


The Telltale Lie - Book 1

by muse51



Series: Scorpio Intelligence Network [1]
Category: General Hospital
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, F/M, Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-05 01:17:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 56,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15159227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muse51/pseuds/muse51
Summary: Former international spy, Anna Devane is a woman of depth and mystery. So much so that even she does not realize the secrets she holds within her mind. Not until she reunites with the one man she trusts above all others - Robert Scorpio. But he's hiding a secret himself and its revelation sets the two on an irrevocable collision course with drama, adventure and intrigue.





	1. No Bomb, No Pizza

**Author's Note:**

> This story follows Anna Devane and Robert Scorpio after Night Shift 2 and into General Hospital. The story focuses on the WSB spies and hospital characters not the mob side. It stays faithful to the established histories of the main and supporting characters. Any history changes/rewrites from 2016 do not apply and are ignored.
> 
> You do not need to be a fan of General Hospital or even follow the show to read this story. It's a standalone story. The header images illustrate character relationships and other information to the reader.
> 
> This series began posting in 2009 in various sites. It covers five books with a sequel. The entire series in final form will be posted here.

__

 

Bern, Switzerland 2008 

_Whirr ... click._

The motion sensor at the main gate activated the security camera in the portico. The security officer and concierge consciously straightened their collars and ties. The Beauchel Health Institute had a world-class reputation and they were not about to disgrace it by being sloppy.

The red Porsche Boxster glided through the gates and nimbly navigated the winding curves up the hill. The car had barely come to a stop before the driver tossed her driving glasses into the passenger's seat, untied her head scarf with a flourish and exited the car. With regal self-confidence, she strode through the double doors leaving the two men gaping in her wake.

Alert eyes took a quick survey of not only the understated entrance hall but also the placement of every security camera, visible alarm and security personnel. She assessed the clerks at the front desk approvingly.

She spoke, "Anna Devane to see Robert Scorpio.”

"Ah, Madame Devane, yes, we have been expecting you. I am Henri Renard, general manager of the Institute,” Renard smiled ingratiatingly at Anna. Renard was a slight man whose receding hairline was artfully camouflaged by a comb over. "Please follow me. As you will see, we have followed your instructions to the letter.”

"The Institute came highly recommended, Monsieur Renard. I'm sure that I will not be disappointed.”

"Henri, please.” Renard could feel himself flushing at a compliment given with such warmth and sincerity. He straightened his posture a bit. "We hope you shall not be disappointed. Should you desire any change, we would be delighted to comply. No request is too small, believe me, Madame."

"Please call me Anna." Anna forced her legs to match Renard's leisurely pace as he led her through the opulent lobby. "How has Robert been? Difficult? Impossible? Demanding?”

Renard cleared his throat. “Mr. Scorpio, like all patients, is not in his normal environment and condition. Some ... some tension is expected. We are, of course, trained to facilitate a patient's recovery no matter the ... the situation.”

"You don't need to mince words, Henri," Anna chuckled. "I did warn you that Robert would be a terrible patient. He can try the patience of two saints.”

"As you say, Anna." They reached the top of the stairs. Renard motioned for them to proceed down a long hallway. "I will admit that we all are looking forward to Mr. Scorpio's full recovery. As soon as possible.”

* * *

As they made their way to Robert's room, faint voices reached their ears. As the voices became more distinct, Anna had to suppress a laugh.

"Look, I understand that it's protocol but can't we bend things just a little," Robert said. "I've lived in America a long time and I've got bad eating habits because of it. So, why not indulge me and just get me a pizza. A small one, personal sized.”

A high pitched, strident female voice replied, "Pizza is not included on the nutritional plan appropriate for your condition.”

"What do you mean not on the plan?!" Robert fired back. "Are we reading the same plan? It's listed right here in the good for me column — cheese, lean beef, green vegetables, bread. Pizza has all that ready made.”

"Processed foods will exacerbate your condition. The colon is a very sensitive organ of the body.”

"You wouldn't know sensitive if it-"

"What was that, monsieur?”

"Nothing, nothing. All right. I give up for today. Let's see what medically approved lunch I've got.”

Anna leaned on the doorframe just outside of Robert's suite. After the draining emotional highs and lows of the last few months, hearing his voice so strong and light-hearted unraveled something tight and hard inside of her. She had always found Robert's petulant nature equal parts amusing and exasperating. This time amusement was winning out.

Anna composed her features to sternness and entered the suite's sitting room. Anna walked to the couch, crossed her arms and glared. "Robert, whatever they serve you, you'd better eat it and be grateful. You do want to get well, don't you?”

Sitting on the couch, Robert held her gaze for a moment. “Anna.”

She looked over the open food tray. "This smells delicious. Much better than pizza. My compliments to the staff.”

Renard gestured to the valkyrie-like woman dressed in dark slacks and a green silk blouse. "Anna, may I introduce our head nutritionist, Inga Hanson. Inga, this is Anna Devane, Mr. Scorpio's, erm, ah-“

"Long suffering ex-wife.” Anna shook Inga's hand. "My sister, Dr. Alexandra Marick, recommended Beauchel. I see she was absolutely right, as usual.”

Both Renard and Inga preened at the professional compliment.

Robert straightened his pajama collar and smoothed down his burgundy robe. He took a sip of water then said, "If I'd known you were coming, I would have dressed up.”

"I thought an unannounced visit was best. You look fine, Robert. Not so pale. Have you gained a little weight?”

"Ouí, Madame Devane. The patient has increased significantly.” Inga added quickly. "For the most part, he has followed the recommended regiment.”

"You do look less, um, cadaverous. Have you been giving them a hard time, Robert? Hmm?" Anna asked.

"I've been a good boy I'll have you know — getting treatment, exercising to regain my strength. My prognosis is very positive.”

"And the pizza thing?”

"Even prisoners are allowed one phone call. Me patient, me want pizza.”

Renard smiled genially. "Mister Scorpio has been most creative in his requests for pizza.”

"And persistent," Inga put in.

With a sly look at his ex-wife, Robert said, "My REGULAR nurse would give me pizza or find a way to get me one.”

Anna's lips quirked up at the corners. "It's not good for you.”

"The pizza or the nurse?”

"In your condition, I doubt you could handle either one.”

"The proof is in the pudding, my dear.”

"You have a regular nurse? Perhaps it would be better for your recovery if we were to hire her or him," said Renard.

"Um, no. She has a very exclusive clientele. And Robert is ... is out of favor at the moment," Anna said.

"I'm working on that," Robert said softly. His eyes implied far more than his words. "If it's still within reach. Is it?”

"Anything is possible." Conscious of their audience, Anna looked away from Robert. She pushed the dinner tray towards him. "I'll make sure he eats his lunch. Every bite I promise you. He'll behave himself with me.”

With that unsaid but implied dismissal, Renard and Inga left the room. Renard closed the door leaving an awkward silence behind him.

Robert sent out an olive branch first. "I'm sorry for leaving you like that.”

"It didn't bother me." Anna's nonchalant tone did not fool anyone least of all someone who knew her as well as Robert did. She had made arrangements to accompany Robert to Beauchel and help him through his treatment. Robert being Robert had other ideas. He had snuck out of General Hospital without Anna or their daughter Dr. Robin Scorpio-Drake any the wiser.

The note he had left for Anna had been little consolation. It said: _I'll be waiting with the mai-tais once I'm back to myself._

"It was the coward's way out.”

"No argument there," said Anna curtly as she crossed her arms.

"I can throw bad guys into jail but colon cancer is ... is harder to handcuff, luv," Robert said.

"Say what you mean, Robert. It was the no-win scenario that had you handcuffed," said Anna shrewdly.

Robert sighed. "We never got training for facing up to cancer, did we? WSB agents are trained to survive and to win against all odds except this sort of thing.”

"You didn't have to fight it alone," Anna chided. "But, as you've always said, you prefer to work alone.”

"How could I put you and Robin through more stress and strain?" Robert swallowed hard before replying. "I wanted to fight but I didn't think it was winnable, not in the long run. A ten percent survival rate is not encouraging. Experimental treatments like this don't have guarantees.”

"You've closed yourself off again, Robert, from me, from Robin, from Mac, from everyone who cares about you."

"By necessity not choice believe me on that,” he said earnestly. "For Robin's sake, I want to believe you."

"Is that why you're here for Robin?" asked Robert sharply.

Anna took a hesitant step closer to Robert. "Despite the changes in our personal relationship, Robert, I thought we were ... that we could still be there for each other.”

"We are. Always. My stubborn streak got in the way.”

"Stubbornness or simply a lack of ... of desire?"

"It just happened so fast. I crashed my plane, discovered my daughter is expecting, got my brain drained, lost a brain tumor I didn't know I had, found out I had cancer, sunk into a coma and reconnected with the two most important people in my life. That's a lot to handle. I'll tell you one thing. You will never know how glad I was when I woke up and saw you and Robin. I can still recall how I felt."

"We were pretty glad to see you, too.” Anna smiled. "We all needed time to think and just be together.”

"Together is the word." Robert patted the space next to him. "This couch is very comfortable.”

Anna stayed where she was not ready to allow herself to be so easily manipulated. "Have a seat, please.”

Anna locked eyes with Robert. Her voice was soft. "After this treatment, were you coming back to us, Robert?”

Robert explained, "This was my fight to win. If I won, then I would have come back as the man you remembered. If not, then you'd still remember me as I was ... not any other way. That was important to me.”

"It wasn't important to me or to our daughter." Anna's eyes reflected hurt and disappointment. "We were ready to share our lives with you and then you ran off.”

"No excuses.”

"None taken," countered Anna.

"I am sorry for hurting you, Anna," Robert said. "All or nothing. That's the way I've lived my life. You're the same way. Win the war or don't bother.”

Anna closed the space between them. She reached out to touch his silvery hair. With visible effort, she lightened her tone. "It looks like you're winning the war. Your hair is growing back nicely.”

"It's just hair." Robert pulled her closer towards him. He was inwardly delighted at her lack of physical resistance. "One of the things I'm learning all over again is that there are other more important things in life.”

Anna swayed into his arms but refused any eye contact. "You seem very comfortable here. I love the view out the window.”

"You've seen one snow-capped mountain, you've seen them all. Mountains are challenging just like some women." Robert nuzzled her neck. "I'm sorry for missing the wedding.”

Anna picked at some imaginary lint on Robert's robe. "I'm really glad that ... that your doctors are seeing definite improvement. At least you're listening to them.”

Robert continued his campaign of verbal groveling. "I'm sorry for not being there for Robin, and for you, mother of the bride. I should have been there. A father should have at least watched his daughter walk down the aisle. I don't know how I'm going to make that up to her.”

"You can stop apologizing, Robert!" Anna tapped Robert gently but firmly on his shoulder. "Robin understood that your treatment took priority.”

Robert tipped her chin up. "And did my Anna understand?”

"I'm here, aren't I?" She stroked his cheek. "Apologies accepted. You're very hard on the women in your life. You do know that don't you?”

"I'm working on that, too.”

"Just as I understand you completely, you want to go change on me?”

"Hey! It's never too late to teach THIS old dog new tricks. I'll prove it to you and to Robin." Robert dropped a kiss on Anna's forehead.

"You don't have to change on our account.”

"I want to. Besides, I wouldn't want to be the grouchy granddad that Emma can't bring to Show and Tell times at school.”

Anna jumped out of his arms. "Oh, my God, Emma, how could I have forgotten!"

"Something wrong?”

Anna rummaged through her purse. "That's why I'm here. I ... I wanted to tell you in person.”

Robert's expression shifted from surprise to concern. "Just tell me that Robin is all right. She IS all right? Is it Patrick?”

"The wedding has been rescheduled. Robin needs some time to recover from the birth trauma and the coma.”

"A second wedding? Robin takes up after you all right." Robert chuckled. "Wait a minute! What coma?!”

"It was a short-term coma due to some sort of complication post labor. She and Patrick are doing great! Don't worry." Anna sat down by Robert's side and brandished a photo album. She flipped the album open and gave it to Robert. "Grandpa Robert, may I present Emma Grace Scorpio Drake, our grandchild."


	2. The Clock Starts Ticking

Over lunch, Anna told Robert all about the aborted wedding and Emma's birth. They laughed. They cried. Every minute baby feature was dissected with excessive credit given to one side of the family tree or the other. Afterwards, they cuddled on the bed enjoying a rare calm interlude.

"Oh, Robert, inside I was a wreck. Thank God for Mac. He kept me calm and ... and sane."

Robert gazed at a picture of a grinning Mac and yawning Emma. "My ne'er do well little brother is now the anchor of the family. Who would have thought it."

"An anchor that's what he is. Exactly.”

"I have nightmares of how Robin's life may have been like without Mac," Robert said. "You read about young people going down the wrong path in life and pray it doesn't happen to your children."

Anna stretched her body before settling down in the crook of Robert's neck. "Can you imagine if we had had more than one child? Poor Mac. And Maxie and Georgie on top of that."

"It wasn't fair to him to have that burden." Robert looked down at Anna. His brows furrowed in thought. "Thinking about Leora or just children in general?"

"In general, Robin was a handful. There were days that I could have screamed."

"I heard you a few times from my place way across town. I know I did. Your shrieking is unforgettable," Robert chuckled. "Teenagers are supposed to be a trial. But to see her now as a doctor, a wife and a mother. It's a miracle!"

"Things have gone full circle I suppose."

"Robin will be a fantastic mother just like you were."

"You weren't too shabby, dear old dad."

"I did my best," Robert conceded. "I wish I had been there for her."

"Robert, don't take this unkindly but you, well, I don't know how well you could have coped. I felt so helpless when Robin was in labor. It was unbearable. I seemed calm on the outside but on the inside I was a frantic madwoman,” confessed Anna. "If I had to go through that with another daughter, I don't know if I could have stood there knowing how much pain she was in and I couldn't help at all. Once is enough."

"Do you remember giving birth to your children?" asked Robert. "That's an odd question."

Robert playfully twined his fingers around Anna's. "Just curious. I've heard said that the pain is unforgettable."

Anna smiled in remembrance. "It's strange what you remember and what you don't. You remember all the emotions you go through. I don't remember the pain really."

"What do you remember afterwards?" Robert asked.

"I remember the first time moments. When I heard Robin and Leora cry. The first time I saw them with my own eyes or held them in my arms. How they looked sleeping or feeding. Leora was wonderful for the short time I had her." Anna leaned into Robert taking strength from his presence. "Do you remember when we talked about trying for another child?"

Robert brought her fingers to his lips planting kisses on each finger. "It was just after we moved into the Webber house."

"Yes, it was. Dr. Collins thought the internal scarring from the miscarriage had healed or been reduced to a point where I could probably carry to term."

"It would have been a very high risk pregnancy, luv."

"High. Low. Whatever. If I had to stay in bed for the entire last trimester then so be it."

"I was looking forward to playing Nurse Feelgood for a change."

"You and Robin. Hovering mother hens the both of you.” Anna laughed. "I might have gone insane first."

"Just giving you a taste of your own mothering medicine," Robert said. "I suspect Robin would not have let you get away with anything."

Anna's expression turned thoughtful. "Sometimes, I dream about telling you I was pregnant and you saying it was a wonderful early Christmas present."

Robert's eyes narrowed. "You do? How often— "

A knock sounded and the door opened slowly. A young orderly came in with a parcel.

"Your weekly care package, Mr. Scorpio," said the orderly.

"Thank you, Karl. On the table is fine."

Anna rose smoothly off the bed. "Care package from Robin?"

"It's nothing, Anna. Leave it. I'll open it later."

Anna carried the package back to the bed while reading the shipping label. "Who's sending you weekly packages from Paris, Robert?"

Not bothering to wait for a response, Anna ripped the box open. Inside, the contents were meticulously wrapped in plastic and tissue paper. She pulled things out and spread them on the bed. Two obviously new suits with matching socks and ties. A box of health bars. A pair of shoes that also seemed new. A blank journal.

Robert lay casually unconcerned watching her puzzle over the contents of the box. "See, no bomb. No pizza. Nothing to worry about."

"If you'd wanted this stuff, you could have just told me. I would have brought them with me. I remember all your sizes."

"Anna, your schedule is hardly predictable. It's not important enough to bother you with."

"So you bother someone named Abelard." Anna's lips pursed in disapproval as she read the shipping label more carefully. "Every week like clockwork?"

"It's not like you to be jealous, luv," Robert teased.

"I'm not," Anna snapped. "I'm merely curious. Nothing more."

"Curiosity killed the cat,” Robert commented dryly.

"Seventeen years is a long time to be ... alone and ... we didn't talk about that stuff when you were sick and maybe you-"

"I nearly died a short time ago," Robert interrupted. "If I had any confessions that were mine to make I would have made them then."

"I shouldn't presume anything." Anna tossed the suit and other things carelessly back into the box. "I mean I got married. Obviously, you could have, too."

"Abelard is a close friend of mine, Anna," Robert explained.

Anna continued speaking pretending to not have heard Robert. "We both moved on in our own way. There's nothing wrong with that. Neither of us likes to be alone. You left me hanging at the hospital before coming here. You must have had a good reason for that. For all I know you do have a girlfriend."

"You have nothing to worry about on that score, luv." Robert's eyes crinkled in amusement. He liked seeing Anna well and truly riled up.

Anna blathered on. "I dated. You dated. Technically speaking, were we really married the second time? In our hearts, yes, but was it legal? What hold do I ... we have on each other? It's a natural thing for adults to need relationships and-"

"Abelard is passable in the looks department but personally speaking he's never done anything for me." Robert tossed off. "I like a little fire in my women."

Anna paused in roughly shoving the shoes back in the box. "He?"

"Abelard is ... was one of my WSB senior contacts. He's become a trusted friend."

Anna huffed, "Why did you let me go on and on like that like some ... some insecure woman?"

"Let's get a few things clear, shall we." Robert took hold of one of Anna hands. With the other hand, he curled a loose strand of Anna's hair behind her ear. "One, it would be silly for me to say I've lived like a monk when I haven't. Two, I'm not involved in any kind of romantic entanglements now. Lastly, I am focused on one thing and that is beating the Big C."

"Is that the only thing on your mind, Robert?"

"Until I'm well and more like my old self, yes. After that, I'm open to possibilities between us. Is the picture clear now?"

“Crystal,” Anna rubbed her cheek against his hand. "Get well soon, that's an order, Scorpio."

"I'm working on it." Robert grinned. "No worries, Devane."

* * *

At her hotel, Anna savored the soothing heat of her hot bath. Reflections of candlelight cavorted off the curves of the wineglass she held. Anna adjusted the towel behind her head before leaning back to contemplate her visit with Robert.

"Robert is in very good hands," Anna mused out loud.

Before leaving Port Charles, her agency had offered her a new assignment. She had hesitated about accepting not wanting to be somewhere inaccessible should anything happen to her family.

"Robin's wedding isn't for a few more weeks. I can absent myself for a handful of days surely."

She had decided to accept the new assignment. Mentally, she began to dissect the new mission's requirements and objectives. One thought kept intruding into her mental planning session - the mysterious Abelard.

Despite Robert's assurances, his vagueness had made her instantly suspicious. Each time she had asked a question about Abelard, no matter how indirect or innocent, Robert changed the subject. She could get nothing more out of him other than that Abelard was a good friend. Robert must have known that his stonewalling would only make her more suspicious and determined to find out the truth.

On returning to her hotel, Anna had issued a query to the WSB. The response was negative on any operative named Abelard, code name, alias or real name. Similar queries to the FBI and Interpol had been tried with the same results.

"Robert wouldn't lie to me. I know he wouldn't lie to me," Anna mused. "However, not divulging information isn't lying. It would be just like him to split hairs like that. That's just Robert being difficult. What else is new?"

One last time Anna racked her memory but could not recall any person or mission referring to anything or anyone named Abelard that she had been involved with. She reminded herself that she and Robert had preferred solo missions before they had met. Abelard could just as easily have been party to one of Robert's assignments.

"I have questions looking for answers. Answers that Robert doesn't want me to know." Anna tipped her wine glass and emptied it. "I think a side trip to Paris is in order then on to Buenos Aires for the mission."

* * *

In his room with phone receiver in hand, Robert waited until the scrambler notification beeps ended before speaking. "Mrs. Peel came by today. That clock that we spoke about, remember that? It's started ticking."

Robert breathed deeply forcing a calm on himself that he did not feel. "If I know the lady, and I do, she'll find herself in Paris. She'll dig and dig until she's satisfied or stopped."

What was said on the other end was not what he wanted to hear. "Screw the deal! If she asks me, then, yeah, I'll tell her."

His grip tightened around the phone and his tone of voice seemed sad and tinged with anger. "I'm tired of hiding secrets in plain sight. Masking deception with illusions of reality."

"How much time? You have three days, maybe four, maybe less. Think hard, boy, think very, very hard."


	3. Who is Abelard?

Paris, France

Anna looked up at the Hotel de Fleurie. She double-checked the address - 32 Rue Gregoire de Tours. Just off the busy, high profile Boulevard Saint Germain, the establishment was unexpectedly quaint and charming.

The front desk clerk greeted her with a smile. "Madame, welcome to the Hotel de Fleurie. I am Louis. How may I be of service?"

"I'm looking for Mr. Abelard. Is he registered here?" asked Anna.

"No, he is not."

"He must be. I received a package from him with this return address.” Anna smiled. "It was a lovely gift and I wanted to thank him personally."

"Monsieur Abelard picks up his mail here and he does use this address on parcels but he is not a guest."

"I'm only in Paris for a few days and I would love to see him. Could you give me his home address or even a telephone number?"

"I am sorry, Madame. I cannot give that information to you. It is our policy you understand,” said the clerk. "We only secure the monsieur's mail until he comes to collect them each week."

Anna brightened at this bit of information. "Has Monsieur Abelard come this week? If not, when would he come here to collect?"

"There is no set day, Madame." The clerk pointed to a small cubbyhole behind a locked glass window on the back wall in which a few letters were inserted. "I can say that he has not come this week because his mail is here still.”

"Um, all right. Let's try something else. Does the name Robert Scorpio seem familiar?"

"No, Madame."

"Perhaps a guest or a visitor in the last year?”

"Scorpio? That is an unusual name to be easily remembered. I have worked here nearly ten years but I do not recall it."

This was going one step forward and two steps back. Anna pressed on tamping down her irritation. "What does Monsieur Abelard look like?"

"Madame, if this is an investigation, then please tell me. Criminal matters are taken — "

"Oh, no, no, Louis, this is personal." Anna said earnestly. "Any information would be helpful."

"The monsieur is not in any trouble? He is a good man."

"He is not in any trouble at all. I promise you. I truly need to find Mr. Abelard."

Louis was thoughtful. "I may have a picture. Perhaps that will have more information. Please wait here."

Anna paced the foyer barely containing her impatience. After several minutes the clerk returned with a photo album. He laid the album open on the counter.

"Some of Monsieur Abelard's friends had a birthday party for him in the lounge. His seventieth birthday was five years ago."

Anna recognized Abelard immediately. She peered closer scrutinizing those around him. She recognized one face — a face she knew as well as her own.

"It can't be ... how does he know Abelard?" Anna took a step back and breathed in deeply. She flexed her tight shoulders. "If he knew five years ago ... that ... that Robert was alive and didn't tell me. I'm going to-"

"Madame, are you ill?" Louis asked alarmed at the nearly palpable air of tension around Anna.

"I'm fine. Do ... do you have a room available? Any room. It doesn't matter what it is."

* * *

Anna counted to fifty before dialing her cell phone. She mentally recited a few mantras designed to calm and clear the mind of any potential homicidal thoughts. She had to keep her wits about her in her upcoming conversation.

A groggy voice answered. "Donely here."

"Sean! It’s Anna.”

"Anna? It's three in the morning. Call me in the office later. Goodbye."

"Wake up, Sean! I need your help."

Boston's police chief sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Next to him, Tiffany slept on. Sean often envied her ability to sleep through almost anything. "All right. I'm up. What's going on? Where are you?"

"I'm in Paris. You're the only one that can help me."

"Okay, shoot."

"What do you know about a man named Abelard?" Sean did not respond. "Sean? Still there?"

"Is this line secure?"

"Of course."

“Is your location secure?"

"Yes. Triple checked."

Sean's voice was low and urgent. "Take my advice, Anna. Forget you ever heard the name. He doesn't exist."

"I just saw a picture of you at his birthday party at the Hotel de Fleurie some years back."

"Damn! I'm going to have to report that to the Bureau for cleanup."

"Who is he, Sean?"

"Why do you want to know? You can't be working a case on him."

"For goodness sake, you're as evasive as Robert. Can't you just tell me?"

"What does Robert have to do with Abelard?" Tiffany began to stir. Sean rose from the bed and headed out the bedroom. "Anna, start from the top while I get some coffee."

Anna made herself comfortable on the sofa. "Yesterday, I was visiting Robert at Beauchel. He got a package from Abelard - a weekly care package. When I asked Robert who Abelard was, he got all twitchy. You know how he gets. I knew he was hiding something."

"He never could lie to you, could he?"

"Stop trying to divert my attention. Just stop it, Sean."

"What did Robert say about Abelard?"

"That he was a good and trusted friend."

Sean set the percolator on. "So, why don't you leave it at that? Why complicate things?”

Anna's ears strained to detect any clues of tone or pitch from Sean's voice. "I traced the address. I'm at the Hotel de Fleurie now. It's a classic Bureau fork-in- the-road mail drop designed to confuse and misdirect a would-be tracer. By sheer luck, I saw the photo and you in it. You can't deny that."

"I'm not trying to, Anna,” Sean replied calmly. "Then why are you stalling?"

"I just think ... you need to stay away from this. Besides as of the last WSB reorganization, it's ancient history."

It killed me to let Robert go by himself after you.

"If it didn't concern Robert, I would happily stay out of it." Anna bit her lip. "When Robert was ill, we came to realize that we'd wasted all this time. Secrets, conspiracies and guilt drove us apart time and again. Worse, we enabled these things to affect us. When we got married again, we both vowed to have no more personal secrets between us. Why is he being so evasive about Abelard?”

"You doing an end run like this won't sit well with him."

"What else can I do?"

"Do nothing."

"I can't do that. Not this time. I have to know,” Anna insisted. "He refuses to discuss his contract with the WSB in any great detail. He reveals only the most cursory information about his missions. Those things I can understand. But he won't tell me how he lived or where he lived during the years we were apart. He says that he wants to forget that part of his life."

"If he was connected to Abelard, then I can see his point."

Anna blurted out an accusation she’d kept in the back of her mind. "Are you stonewalling me because you're hiding something? Did you know Robert was alive five years ago or before then? Did he swear you to secrecy?"

"No! The Bureau pretty much cut me off. Persona non grata! Me!" Sean said vehemently. "If I knew anything I would have told you."

Anna's voice hardened. "Would you?"

"For God's sake, how could you think I wouldn't?! How could I have faced Robin and Mac if I knew ANYTHING about you or Robert? It killed me to let Robert go by himself after you.”

"Sean, I didn't -" Anna stammered.

"But I stayed behind for Robin because it's what you BOTH would have wanted me to do," Sean said. "A piece of me died with the two of you."

"I'm sorry," Anna said contritely.

"You should be." Sean sighed. "Anna, sometimes the past needs to be kept undisturbed. We both know that. I'm sure Robert has his reasons. Why is it so important to you to know?"

"Every instinct is telling me to keep pushing. So, whether you tell me here and now or if I have to fly to Boston, it makes no difference."

Sean let out a longer sigh. He had had enough experience with Anna in full interrogation mode to understand that she wasn't going to be talked out of it. It was best to give her what she wanted. "All right. You win. God, you are relentless!"

"You've always said it was one of my better character traits."

"Yeah when it was aimed elsewhere," said Sean. "Let me tell you a history lesson. In the first world war, intelligence networks were in its infancy. One of the most successful operatives on the Allied side was a man named Scarecrow. We don't know much about this individual only that his family paid the price for his success. He hunted down and executed the murderers of his family. He became a sophisticated hunter and killing machine. He disappeared after the war. Most assumed that he was dead. Scarecrow resurfaced as a WSB agent in the second world war. Eyewitness accounts say that it was the same man, same methods, same skills."

"It was later discovered that the first Scarecrow trained a protege to be his successor and a copy. The protege became the Scarecrow in every way — a complete identity. And the teacher took on the name and identity of Abelard. Their real identities were buried as to be completely unknown to outsiders. Since then, there has been a succession of teachers and proteges with training and skills unique to them. Even in the higher ranks of the Bureau they are referred to only by their code names. Abelard and Scarecrow became the Bureau's best kept secret fixers."

"Fixers?"

"They did it all — extortion, assassination, blackmail, kidnapping, corporate espionage, high stakes heists. Whatever it took to do the job with full carte blanche during an operation."

"Could Robert be the Scarecrow?" Anna shut her eyes tight. The idea was appalling. She wondered if this was the price that Robert had paid in exchange for the WSB rescinding the terminate on sight orders.

"I don't know, Anna. It's a moot point. In 2002, Abelard made it known that there would be no more Scarecrows."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. The Bureau reorganized and terminated the Scarecrow Protocol. It's as if it never was."

"If the WSB had ended the program, then why the picture on Abelard's birthday?"

"I came to Paris in 2003 to consult with him on another matter. We met at the hotel. It happened to have been his birthday. That picture is a pure coincidence."

"How do I contact Abelard, Sean?" Anna said. "One name, one address. That's all I want."

"Drop this, Anna," Sean growled.

Anna countered, "Donely Lesson 4 - Once on the trail, don't hesitate, follow through and make sure you're the one still standing at the end."

"Here I thought that maturity would have mellowed you out a little," Sean said. "Try the Galerie Motte et Douart on the Rue Mazarine. Ask for Heloise Garnier. And, Anna, be careful."

* * *

 

For a weekday the gallery held a good number of interested customers, casual browsers and the typical hangers-on that galleries attracted. Anna strolled through the Galerie Motte et Douart with one eye on the contemporary art adorning the walls and another on a red haired woman who had been identified as Heloise Garnier by several customers.

Heloise seemed a typical well-coiffed, superbly turned out Gallic businesswoman whose age was seemingly frozen somewhere between thirty-five and fifty. With its classical features, her face could have graced a sculptor's masterpiece.

On an impulse, Anna wrote the word 'Abelard' on a small comment card. She made her slow roundabout way to Heloise's side.

"Madame Garnier, could you take a look at this for me?” said Anna in flawless French handing the card to the woman. She watched Heloise intently for any reaction. The Frenchwoman was impassive and unreadable as she read the card.

"This is very interesting." Heloise replied in slightly accented, but very educated English. Her eyes swept over Anna's face locking eyes for a mere second. Heloise began to walk slowly towards the back of the gallery.

"I hope that you are the correct recipient." Anna followed Heloise maintaining the illusion of a conversation between them.

"Perhaps. Could you tell me, Madame, from whom you received this item and when?"

"Yesterday I spoke to a mutual friend Sean Donely. He thought you would be the best person to examine the item."

Heloise paused at a tall stone sculpture of a pagan god figure. She arranged the description card lying on top of the sculpture. "Of course, Sean. How is his family in California? Are the children well?"

Anna circled the sculpture feigning acute interest while saying, "Sean and his wife Tiffany find the weather abominable in Boston. Their young child is adorable I'm sure though I haven't met her."

Heloise nodded. "To whom should I send the evaluation to?"

"Anna Devane."

Unexpectedly, Heloise smiled brightly at her. Her professional demeanor was replaced by warmth and open regard. "Robert's Anna I presume."

Anna grinned shyly. "I suppose that title fits as well as any other."

Heloise placed the comment card on the top of the sculpture. She scribbled on the card. With one finger, she slid it towards Anna. In a voice meant for Anna's ears only, she said, "Come to my home tonight at seven o'clock at this address."

"I hope the evaluation answers some of my questions, Madame Garnier," Anna said out loud for the benefit of any eavesdroppers.

"I believe I know what your expectations are. I will give this matter my personal attention. Please return tomorrow so I may provide a completed evaluation."

Anna nodded. "I'm looking forward to it. Thank you very much."


	4. The Chest

Paris, France

Situated on the Rue de Lubeck adjacent to the Palais de Chaillot, the Garnier residence spoke of exclusivity and wealth. Anna was escorted into the high ceilinged receiving room by a soft-spoken young man who seemed a combination of butler and bodyguard. Anna skirted the settees to stand by the window and view the Eiffel tower. Two enormous bull mastiffs dogged her steps. Neither one barked or approached very closely but clearly they were there to watch her every move.

"Madame Devane?" came a small voice from behind her.

Anna turned and her eyes traveled downward at a boy of eight or nine in a white shirt and gray short pants with blond hair curling at the ends and vividly blue eyes. "Yes, that would be me."

The little boy gave a crooked smile that showed off a gap in his front teeth. "I am Marcel Garnier. Maman is at-tending to some work and I am to en-en-ter-tain you until she comes."

"That would be lovely," Anna replied in French.

Marcel chortled at hearing her French. They sat on a love seat nearest to the window. Anna noticed that one of the mastiffs lay calmly at Marcel's feet while its partner positioned itself on Anna's side just far enough to be unobtrusive but close enough to lunge. These dogs were very well trained.

In short order, Anna learned that Marcel was eight. He had a sister Sandrine who was much older and away at school. Marcel was tutored by the butler Giles and his Grandpere. He and his parents had lived at the house for as long as he could remember but his Grandpere had joined them only a short time ago. Giles' mother Madame Neuhaus was their housekeeper and they both lived upstairs. Marcel liked to float his toy boats in the fountains outside and feed the birds on the rooftop.

_Thump, thump, thump._

The ears of the two mastiffs twitched and they bounded to their feet. Anna could hear the steady approach of someone using a cane. She and Marcel both stood up.

They heard the voice before seeing the man. "Eh, Marcel, you were to practice your English with Madame Devane, non?"

“Ouí, Grandpere," Marcel said. "But Madame spoke French and ... and I forgot to speak in English."

"Remember the next time we have guests," the old man turned sharp blue gray eyes to Anna. While his eyes were not cold, they had a penetrating, knowing quality that seemed to see past all her defenses. He spoke English with hardly an accent at all. "Welcome, Anna, to our home. I am Jacques Garnier. You expressed some curiosity about my person to my daughter-in-law."

"Yes, I did. Thank you for seeing me, Monsieur Garnier." Anna shook Jacques' proffered hand. It shook with the slight tremula common to extreme old age but there was an undeniable, underlying strength in his grip and his posture was straight as a blade. This was not a man that one underestimated without cost.

"I believe that my own curiosity about you, which has grown over the last decade, far surpasses your own interest towards me," Jacques sank gratefully onto the settee. "Marcel, please inform Giles that I need him."

Marcel scurried off to find Giles. Anna sat quietly letting Jacques observe her at his leisure.

"Anna, please call me Jacques. We do not use the other name except in a professional context. Tonight is very personal and among family. Tell me has Robert been evicted from Beauchel yet?"

Anna said dryly, "You do know Robert well."

"His character traits are very consistent. I assume also that he does not know you are here now."

"No, not at all. He thinks I'm on my way to Buenos Aires on another assignment. I decided on a detour first."

"I was told to expect you within the next few days," said Jacques.

“You spoke to Robert?”

Jacques seemed to ignore the question. "It has been less than twenty-four hours. I am very impressed."

"I got lucky that's all. I traced the address on your care package. Louis at the Hotel de Fleurie showed me a picture. I recognized Sean Donely and here I am."

"Connecting the dots and having it form a picture requires skill not just luck, Anna." Jacques sat back. "So, what is it you desire to know?"

"Everything," Anna replied.

“Where would one begin when one has so much to convey?”

“What you tell me is up to you but there is one thing I must know first,” she said. “Was ... is Robert the Scarecrow?"

Jacques shook his head most emphatically. "No. Never. He has helped me on other matters but that is the extent of our professional association. Robert has a very firm moral compass. Even with will and purpose, he would not have been capable of that particular job description unless there was extreme motivation. He is not the Scarecrow or ever intended to be."

Anna let out a long exhalation. "It would have destroyed him having to do ... to do the things that the Scarecrow is known for."

"Much of the Scarecrow's exploits are exaggerations. Take half of those stories and then take another half and, perhaps, one gets to the truth."

"They're lies?" Anna's brows rose in surprise. Out of the corner of her eye, Anna saw Giles enter the room.

Jacques rubbed his jaw. "In the beginning, the unvarnished truth was sufficiently horrific to deter the curious or the predatory. In the long run, we discovered that exploiting and exaggerating the myth was superior to mere intimidation in as far as camouflage and protection of our private lives."

"The unknown is a real threat and thus worthy of being greatly respected and feared."

"That is so. My predecessors transformed themselves with the times to survive. I fear I do not possess the same strength to endure yet another change."

"Change?"

"Forgive an old man's ramblings. You and Heloise share a quality that tempt men to speak when silence is best." Jacques motioned Giles to come forward. "Giles, please retrieve Robert's trunk and bring it here."

As Giles exited Marcel came in determinedly pushing a tea service trolley. "Here is your tea, Grandpere, Madame." Marcel's shoes pressed hard against the floor as he gamely pushed the cart the last few meters to where Anna and Jacques sat.

"What my daughter would have given to have a trolley like that," Anna mused.

"Maman could tell you where to purchase one," Marcel said helpfully.

"Oh, Marcel, my daughter is pushing a pram nowadays but I think my granddaughter will like one in a few years." Anna made a mental note to add a tea trolley to her granddaughter's burgeoning gift list. "Allow me to pour, Jacques."

As they drank their tea and sampled the various biscuits and treats, Giles came in pushing a dark brown leather trunk across the floor. It stood upright resting on well-oiled casters that barely squeaked. The brass clasps and the studs that lined every edge shone like new. There was evidence of wear in the scuffed brass corner fittings.

A combination lock hung closed on the center clasp. Strapped around the entire trunk was a bright yellow canvas luggage strap with another combination lock. At a nod from Jacques, Giles entered the combination lock and removed the luggage strap. He then pushed the trunk to Anna's side.

Jacques said, "Marcel, we will go out for a little walk. You, I and Giles. We need to exercise the dogs. Put on your jacket."

Marcel ran off to get his jacket happy for the unexpected treat. Anna stared raptly at the trunk.

"Robert gave explicit instructions to me and Heloise that this trunk be given to you, his brother or your daughter if he was unable to ... to return from a last mission. I know enough of its contents to say that it holds many answers for you. Even answers to questions you are not aware of possessing."

"Does Robert know you're giving this to me?"

"I was asked not to."

"By Robert?"

Jacques placed a hand on Anna's shoulders. "If you and Robert mean to be together, then there must be truth between you."

"Why couldn't Robert tell me himself. Why?"

"It is not his story to tell.”

“What do you mean, Jacques?”

“There is a promise that Robert hesitates to break even for you. However, he would not be breaking any promises if you found the answers yourself." Jacques stood up. "We will give you privacy now, Anna. Take as much time as you need. Heloise is in her study should you need anything.”

* * *

Anna examined the combination lock on the trunk. To be unlocked, it required four digits in the correct sequence.

"Robert's passwords are usually simple but have some meaning only to him. Let's try the most obvious," Anna murmured. She entered the birth year of their daughter Robin. The lock did not open. She tried a series of numbers without success - Robert's birth year, her birth year, his brother Mac's birth year, their first wedding year, their second wedding year, the year Robin came to Port Charles. At this last attempt, the lock clicked open on the code of 1985.

Anna opened the trunk. Inside, on the left side, sixteen drawers were arranged in two columns. On the right were ten drawers of various sizes.

"Oh, lord, I could never be this organized." Anna opened the first drawer on the left. Inside, nestled in the velour lining was a small jewel box. Anna felt her tears beginning to mist guessing what it could contain. She opened the box. She fingered the cufflinks Robert wore at their wedding. She left his wedding ring lying in the box next to a watch. "I'm not ready for that."

Anna closed the drawer and opened the drawer next to it. She pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper tied with a red ribbon. She untied the ribbon and unrolled the paper. She gaped at the picture before bursting into loud laughter. A pencil sketch of her smiled back at her. "I hated this. Robert, you have so much to answer for. When did he get all this out of storage? No wonder Robin said she couldn't find them. Robert took the lot.”

She turned to the set of drawers on the right side. "Let's see what we find here. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe," Her finger landed on one of the large drawers. From inside, she removed out a wide leather journal. Anna flipped through several pages smiling at some, frowning at others — a blurry picture of Robin at the Sorbonne obviously taken with an extreme telephoto lens, some clippings covering Mac as police commissioner even a clip of their obituary. Two pages near the back made her pause. Affixed on opposing pages were both of their wedding certificates.

“Robert, Duke, Robert, David ... I get married and bad things happen. I should just skip the ceremony and go straight to the honeymoon." Anna closed the journal and put it aside for later viewing. She picked the last large drawer.

The drawer was full. Anna removed a large piece of blue cloth wrapped in a tight transparent plastic. Handwritten on the bundle was the word 'BRETON' in Robert's handwriting. She unwrapped the bundle carefully. As she did so, a scent lingered, a familiar one, of cloves and tar. Her eyes widened and her nostrils flared in reaction.

Images played like a kaleidoscope through her mind — a red orchid disintegrating in her fist, a sunset in the open ocean, smoke swirling up from a lit cigarette. Remembrances of past sensations and impressions prickled her skin — the icy chill of water spraying on her face, the softness of lips curving against each other, the intense heat from burning oil, the slickness of a rolling deck, the comfort of a hand laid over her own.

Her heart raced. Perspiration beaded on her forehead. Pain lanced deep through her temples and spread down to her jaw, her neck. She slipped off the love seat to her knees. Her hands clawed at her scalp.

“Damn it!" She panted. "Memory block ... must ... must remember ..."

Another wave of pain, more intense than the first, made her double over. Anna wrapped her arms about her middle as waves of anger and despair came over her. "Forget ... forget he said ... secret ... can't tell ... danger."

As consciousness faded, a velvet voice echoed in her mind. _Always for the first time ... me finding the secret of loving you._


	5. Elemental

The door opened just enough to allow Marcel to peer inside the room. The thick damask curtains were drawn shut denying the bright morning sun. He could see the dim outline of an unmoving form on the double bed. A hand descended on his shoulders.

"Marcel, I have told you before that Anna requires rest," said Heloise.

"But, Maman, Madame Anna has been asleep for many hours. Is she not tired of sleeping?"

"She has had a long journey and needs her rest." Heloise placed a kiss on the top of her son's head. "Were you not to help Mathilde with today's luncheon? Go on, now." Heloise made sure that Marcel was on his way to the kitchen before disappearing into the room.

Sleeping peacefully, Anna seemed very different from the woman whom she had found crumpled and unconscious on the living room floor yesterday evening. Heloise felt a strong pulse and a cool forehead. Gently, Heloise wrapped the blood pressure band around Anna's forearm. With the efficiency of a born nurse, Heloise took her patient's blood pressure. Anna began to stir just as Heloise was removing the arm band.

Anna's eyes fluttered open. She tried to sit up. The room swayed around her. "Not a good ... idea.”

“Anna, be calm, please,” Heloise advised.

"Heloise? I was ... opening ... the trunk. Then nothing. What happened?"

"I heard you laughing and talking to yourself then a little yell. I left my study. I saw you as you fell and lost consciousness. Mathilde and I carried you here. And, here you will stay until you are better so says the doctor."

Heloise put a pillow behind Anna. Once Anna was settled, Heloise shone a light into Anna's eyes testing for pupil response.

"Doctor?" Anna asked still disoriented and unable to remember what really happened.

On the nightstand sat a pitcher of ice cold water, a crystal tumbler, a small bowl and a small collection of medicines.

"Yes. I've had a doctor attend to you to make certain you are physically healthy." Heloise sorted through the medicine bottles then took a pill from one. She filled the glass halfway full. "Jacques contacted Dr. Marick. I've been instructed to give only aspirin, to keep you hydrated and very calm."

"Alex knows ... what happened to me?"

Heloise held out the aspirin and glass towards her patient. "That something occurred to you for that is very obvious. Your sister believes that a memory was triggered but a mental block has prevented a full cascade of memories. That conflict, if you will, caused your mind to, as she put it, reset and shut down."

"I thought I had recovered all my ... memories after the amnesia. I have a few things I don’t remember but they’re minor events." Anna swallowed the aspirin and sank back into bed. A residual headache lingered just behind her eyes. She massaged her temples and the area around her eyes attempting to alleviate some of the pain and discomfort. “What else is there?”

"Dr. Marick was quite concerned that this block is indicative of mental programming and-"

"NO! NO!" Anna sat up suddenly. "I was deprogrammed. He has no hold on me anymore! Tom ... Tom made sure. I know he did!"

"Stay calm, please, Anna," Heloise cautioned. "Who is Tom?"

Anna's agitation increased. "Faison hypnotized me and ... and Robert. He wanted to destroy our marriage and-"

"Cesar did that?"

Anna looked around wildly. Slowly she drew away from Heloise dragging the blanket across the bed. She controlled her growing panic, barely. "Who are you? How did you know Faison?"

"Cesar is a valued customer of the gallery."

"IS, IS?! He's ALIVE?!" Anna fairly shrieked. She slid completely off the bed and stood on shaking legs. Her eyes darted around the room looking for her purse and her gun.

"I suppose so. I have not seen him for four maybe five years."

"Do you work for him?!"

"I see you are under a misconception, Anna. You are safe here. We have nothing to do with the DVX or the WSB any longer. If you like, I shall swear on my children's lives that we have no other association with Cesar other than as a customer.” Heloise remained seated on the edge of the bed not daring to move lest it be misinterpreted. "The only work, what can be called work, that I can recall is ages ago. Cesar commissioned my father to compose and paint a family portrait from a series of photographs. It was the last my father ever painted."

Anna had a horrific idea what that family portrait was. "I feel ... quite ill."

She swayed and grasped at the bed for support. Having no choice in the matter, Anna allowed Heloise to help her into bed. "Anna, please you must rest. Tomorrow, I shall take you back to Beauchel."

"Why? Has something happened to Robert?"

"Dr. Marick strongly believes that Robert may have information about what happened to you. She will meet us there. In fact, I would not be surprised if she was not there now. She sounded quite eager to insure that Robert did not leave Beauchel prior to our arrival.”

* * *

Light rain pelted the windows of the institute. Dr. Alexandra Marick's unexpected arrival initiated a tempest of activity inside. The epicenter of the storm was Robert's suite. Renard self-importantly directed his staff in preparing the suite next door according to Dr. Marick's exacting standards and requirements.

Robert gazed at his newly met sister-in-law who sat across from him. On the surface, so like Anna but that's where the similarities ended. Where Anna's eyes and face were literally mirrors to her emotions, Alex's eyes and demeanor were turned outward revealing little of her own psyche but seeing much of the world as if it were laid bare before her. Robert found it unsettling to be so transparent in her eyes and her be so unreadable to his.

"When Anna was at Wildwind years ago, I had Doctor Tom Hardy do a consultation. He probed Anna's subconscious very deeply and did not find any blocks or subliminal suggestions left behind by Cesar Faison. Yet, you are so certain that there is one."

"Yes," Robert replied. "I am."

"How can you be so sure?"

Robert's face reflected distaste. "I was there when it was activated."

"You know how to remove it once and for all?"

"Yes."

"I presume you know why it's there."

"Yes."

Alex took a deep breath before continuing. "She mourned you in private, Robert, for a very long time. As if that pain was so deeply rooted in her being that she had to keep it in for as long as possible. Until she was strong enough to acknowledge it."

Robert stood and faced the window. He leaned on the windowpane. Robert could feel Alex's eyes like knives slicing at this back. "I mourned for us, for our family. Don't ... don't think for a second I didn't."

"When she and Robin were reunited, I believe Anna found the strength to let you go. In Robin she still had a bit of you to touch, to love, and she was able to get on with her life. And you, your loving, heroic image was untarnished for her."

"They moved on with their lives Anna and Robin both. They're strong women. I expected nothing less,” Robert said. "I wasn't needed in their life."

"Weren't you?" Alex spat the words out. "Some hero."

"The problem with being a hero is that the uniform gets all dirty. The more you try to be responsible and righteous, the worse the dirt gets. In the end you're riding into town as filthy as everyone else maybe more."

"What about the husband, the father, the brother, the lover? Did they forget so easily?"

Robert whirled around and faced her. "You have no right to judge me or the past."

"You gave me that right when Anna became my responsibility." Alex jumped to her feet facing him defiantly. "You never came for her.

No contact. None. How easily you wiped her existence from your life."

Robert did not answer right away but his eyes held hers. When he did speak, his voice was hoarse and his eyes were haunted. "To me, Anna is elemental like a storm on the Serengeti. In the dry season, the animals welcome its coming. When it comes, they cower and wait in their dens and trees. When its fury is waning, the animals come out to play in the soft falling rain and the wet earth. They can't help it. It's irresistible. It's life-giving, life affirming. One of a kind. A storm not to be feared but respected, anticipated and savored because when it's gone, you shall miss it so very, very much. I could never forget Anna."


	6. The Unraveling Begins

Beauchel Institute, Bern, Switzerland

Upon arrival at Beauchel, Anna and Heloise were swept away to the new suite. Alex was waiting for them. Automatically, Anna submitted to a quick round of diagnostic checks from her sister.

"You've met Robert. What do you think?" Anna asked in a conspiratorial tone.

"We've bonded," Alex said wrapping the blood pressure band around her twin's arm. "I still don't understand the attraction you have for him but I do like him."

"Bonded? How did that happen?" Anna opened her mouth enough for Alex to slip a thermometer in.

"He described you so poetically. I was touched and impressed. Don't tell him I said so. I shall deny it to my dying day."

Despite the thermometer, Anna managed to say, "Robert? Poetic? My Robert?" "Perhaps, you don't know him as well as you believe."

Anna took the thermometer out. "Alex, please, Robert can't write a rhyme to save his life. His wit is best for limericks and quick ditties. Your taste runs towards classical poetry. He impressed you how?"

Alex smiled mysteriously while pushing the thermometer back in. "Try to be nicer to him especially on stormy, rainy days. You might be surprised."

"What?"

Alex removed the pressure band. "Trust me."

Heloise said. "Perhaps he has changed for the better."

"No one changes That much." Anna prodded Alex. "So, what did he say about me?"

"That's covered under new brother and sister confidentiality." Alex arched a brow. "You like mysteries and puzzles. You'll have to find out for yourself."

"Twin sister trumps brother-in-law surely," said Anna.

"Not this time," replied Alex.

"I won't tell him that you told me. I promise. What did he say?" “Good things come to those who wait.”

* * *

"Is this really necessary, Alex? I feel like the Frankenstein monster or his bride." Anna sat fidgeting in the large, stuffed armchair. Sensor pads were attached to various parts of her body — her temples, her heart — then to a rack of machinery courtesy of the hospital staff. A digital blood pressure probe was taped around a finger on her left hand.

"I need to monitor vital statistics throughout the session. So, yes, they are necessary."

"Can you at least stop hovering then. I'm hardly at death's door for all your grim seriousness." Anna eyed Robert who stood sipping his coffee. To her eyes, she could tell he was uneasy. Knowing he was nervous terrified her in return.

On the table in the center of the room were two items from the trunk — the journal of pictures and the blanket tightly wrapped in its plastic enclosure. Heloise perused the album with obvious interest and occasionally making approving comments about Robin and Mac.

"Anna, how much of the events after you disappeared from Port Charles do you know?" Robert asked.

"I don't remember very much save for random images," Anna replied.

"Did Mac, Robin or Sean tell you anything about that period of time? From their perspective?"

"They would have if I had asked. I haven't. My memories are patchy enough. I doubt that more information would improve it."

Alex added, "In amnesia cases, it's not unusual to have lapses in memory even after a full recovery. We believe that she has retained the necessary knowledge about that time period though."

Robert nodded towards Alex. "I need to talk about that time period. Some of it will be unpleasant I warn you."

Anna tipped her chin up defiantly. "I want all the cards on the table or don't bother, Robert."

"Fine. You'll have it,” Robert responded. "Are you ready, Alex?" Alex did one final visual check of her equipment. "Yes."

"Some ground rules first. Heloise, Alex, you can't interrupt once I've started unless it's a medical situation. Agreed?"

The two women nodded their understanding.

Robert began to pace. He avoided eye contact with anyone. His tone was even and impersonal. "Anna, when you disappeared, we all agreed that you went unwillingly. As time lapsed and certain clues came to light, a suspicion arose that you did willingly leave with Faison."

"What?! Who could think that I would?"

Robert continued, "I KNOW you did and the facts bear me out." Anna was stunned. "You thought that I would-"

"Fact. You've fought Grant Putnam and assorted thugs through the years. I'm certain that you could have escaped from Faison given a purely physical fight. There was little forensic evidence of a fight at the location of your kidnapping. Conclusion: You didn't put up much of a fight when he took you."

Anna glared at Robert. Her face reflected confusion and growing rage. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

Robert's harsh revelations continued. "Fact. You are a very resourceful woman on your home territory. If anyone could have found a way to escape or get word out, it was you. And you didn't, couldn't or had no desire to. Conclusion: Whatever the case, you probably didn't try very hard."

Anna dug her nails hard into the armrests of her chair. "How dare you!"

Alex and Heloise were riveted by the naked drama unfolding before them. Anna's vital signs were showing obvious distress. Her breathing was growing rapid and shallow. Her back was stiff. Her whole body seemed ready to poise for a leap at Robert's throat. But Robert was a study in contrast. He was cool and his words colder still.

"Fact. You cooperated with Faison. A tape was delivered to me from you telling me to give up the search. That you were happy with Faison. The voice print was confirmed as yours by the Bureau. Conclusion: Your cooperation was freely given or bought."

"Your FACTS are garbage!" Anna retorted hotly. "The Bureau is GARBAGE!"

"Fact. You and Faison did not vacate Port Charles immediately. You were traced to Spoon Island. I found the portrait there of Faison's imaginary family. Again, no traces of abduction or being kept against your will. I had the entire police department on patrols. The hospital organized volunteer search squads. Bulletins were aired on television and radio all day and night. Conclusion: Faison felt no threat, no urgency to leave. Why? Because you were an active accomplice with him."

"How could you believe these lies?" Anna looked beseechingly at Robert. Robert said in a raspy voice, "I believed because I knew you."

At his words, Anna recoiled as if shot. Her voice was low and hurt. "You never trusted me ... in us. How hard did you look for me, Robert? Was Holly that much of a distraction to you?"

Robert knelt in front of Anna. He cupped her face in both hands. He said softly, "I know my wife. She's resourceful, clever and brave, especially where her family is concerned."

Anna tried to turn her face away but Robert held her fast. "I know you weren't taken in by Faison. You were playing him like before. Using his desires and fantasies against him."

"And Holly?" Anna asked.

"A blessing in disguise really. Having her there, with Mac and Sean, made my decision to leave and find you a little easier to make. Robin would have been loved and cared for no matter what happened to me or to you." With infinite tenderness, Robert pushed several tendrils of hair from Anna's tearstained face. "Besides all that, there was one thing, one thing that only you and I knew. The secret you protected with every breath and for every second in Faison's company in any way you could."

Anna blinked holding back hot tears of anger and disappointment. "Secret?"

"The best bargaining chip you had, luv. It led me to you eventually." Robert rubbed a finger across her cheek to wipe a tear away. "When Faison took you, you were over three months pregnant with our child."

Anna's head shot back violently. "NO! NO!" She panted. "You lie!" Robert pointed to the blue bundle on the table. "There's the proof."

"THAT is NOT proof! It's meaningless." Anna cried out. "How can you lie to me like this?"

"It's one of the first things you bought for him. It kept him warm and safe for a long time."

"You're delusional!"

"You were made to forget because ... because you had to," Robert said quietly.

"How ... how could I forget something like that?!" Anna gulped down a fresh wave of terror. She looked at Alex. "A mother wouldn't forget her child. How could I forget? Impossible ... isn't it, Alex? Alex, tell him."

Though equally shocked, Alex found her voice. "Robert, you said you were there when the block was created. You allowed Faison to touch her, to make her forget?"

Anna gasped. Her eyes accused Robert far better than mere words.

Robert's eyes reflected eyes full of sadness and untold regrets. "It's time your memories are restored, Anna. I have wished for the last seventeen years that things had been different but we made the choices we made together. Together. Remember that."


	7. An Old Friend

In a bookshop in the Latin Quarter of Paris, the front door opened sending a distant bell pealing.

A voice called out in French. "We have closed for the day. Please return tomorrow."

The man ignored the request and hurried inside. His fedora and overcoat were soaked with rain but he hardly seemed to notice as he strode into the shop heading for the back. "Abelard! I need your help."

An older man with salt and pepper hair embraced the younger man. "Robert, I wish the circumstances were better."

"You know?" Robert followed Abelard to the back of the store.

"The networks are talking about nothing else save for you and Anna Devane."

“Scorpio, Anna Scorpio,” Robert corrected.

"As you say. Rumors are taken as facts. Facts are taken as lies. Friends and enemies are scrambling." Abelard triggered a hidden latch behind a bookcase. The bookcase slid aside revealing an anteroom with an armoire, coat hooks on the wall and a bench. He took one flashlight and handed another to Robert. In the flashlight's glow, Abelard opened the armoire, parted the clothing hanging inside and opened a small door.

The two men went through the door into a cramped room hardly bigger than a water closet. A descending circular staircase filled the center of the space.

Abelard barred the wardrobe door with two stout pieces of wood. On the door he hung a chain of small bells.

"Bells? That's new."

"Sometimes the simplest alarms are best." Abelard turned on a small portable intercom and positioned it near the bells. "Complexity can lead to confusion during times of crisis. Paranoid security works best when it is relatively straightforward."

"You'll hear anyone coming and have plenty of time to make arrangements."

"Just so."

The two men descended down the stairway into a long tunnel with roughhewn stone walls. It was part of the series of byzantine tunnels that lay under Paris. Once used long ago to ferry carts of goods around the city, the tunnels were abandoned in favor of roadways on the surface. The tunnels were left to decay and molder. Many parts had collapsed. No one alive knew the entirety of the tunnel system anymore.

Checking markers engraved on the wall that were known only to him, Abelard led Robert a long way through twists and turns before coming to a series of barred and locked doors.

"What no secret underground river with a ferry and driver to take us to your hidden lair?"

Abelard pulled out a keychain from his pocket. "I do not share the grandiose tastes of Mikkos Cassadine as you know well."

"That's not what O'Reilly used to tell me about you."

"When we were young, the world was full of possibilities." Abelard fitted and turned a key in the door's look. "Quickly, one learns to take advantage of it before it turns its back on you."

They advanced through the door. Abelard made a point to lock the previous door before unlocking the next one. A few more twists and turns before they arrived at a stone staircase leading upwards. They ascended three levels into another anteroom and another closed door. Abelard knocked on the door with two raps of his knuckles. Robert heard a shuffling noise from the other side.

"Caliban, open the door," Abelard commanded. A click sounded and the door opened. They were greeted by an enormous black mastiff with its tongue lolling out and eyes raised adoringly at its master.

Robert found himself in a large comfortable salon dotted with stuffed leather couches and Persian carpets. High windows filled the room with light. In an alcove, diodes glowed in reds and blues from a full rack of computer equipment. Several monitors and keyboards were perched on scattered tables. A hallway led deeper into the flat.

Robert hung his coat on the hatrack before, with a grateful sigh, Robert sank into one of the couches.

"Come in and rest, Robert. You have come far." Abelard sat down opposite. Tell me how I may help."

"You're willing to help me despite the black box order?"

"I have it on excellent authority that the order is ... is a badly thought out overreaction. The WSB is panicking and can only see one solution. I trust that you and the new Mrs. Scorpio do not deserve termination."

"Thank you for that. My friends seem to be less than steady lately." Robert's eyes grew wide. "What did you say? Termination has been ordered on both of us?"

"You did not know?"

"When I left home only Anna was black-boxed."

"As I said, the WSB is panicking. They are not thinking logically."

"They're not thinking at all. What a mess." Robert calmed himself and got to the point. "Do you know where Cesar Faison is?"

"Not at this time."

Robert sighed. "You were my last hope. I thought your sources could tell me something. Anything. Faison has led me 'round by the nose and I don't like it!"

"We do not know exactly where Faison is, however, we have a general idea of his trail. He is not as meticulous in his plans this time."

Robert grinned. "We all get sloppy.”

Abelard shook his head. "I do not believe that. Not at all. What I do believe is this. That you are married to a devious and clever woman."

"Tell me something I don't know. What's Anna done?"

Abelard looked at Robert. He wanted to remember Robert's reaction. "Anna Devane Scorpio has been leaving a trail in Faison's wake. A trail that she intended for us to find."

Robert fairly exploded off the couch. "What trail? Where? How?"

"She was able to contact a mutual friend. With each contact there is a clue to her whereabouts. I do not know whether she realizes that we know the same person but the fates have been kind today. My friend was about to look for her on his own."

"If she could contact this friend, why not me?" asked Robert more puzzled than hurt.

Abelard bent down to Caliban and whispered a command, "Get Scarecrow." The dog lumbered down the open hallway. "I suspect that subtlety serves her current circumstance better than a too blatant message to you. Tell me, does Anna have a medical condition, a chronic one?"

Robert took a deep breath before saying, "Chronic for the foreseeable future. She's pregnant. I'd say between three to four months but closer to four."

"Faison does not realize the dangers of crossing a mother-to-be. I am amazed how she has been able to execute her deception all under his notice."

A very familiar voice said wryly, "Anna probably has Faison wrapped around her little finger. Few men could refuse her when she turns the charm on."

"Grant?! Grant Andrews, mate, I don't believe this." Robert shook his old friend and former nemesis' hand.

With his blond hair cropped close, a trim goatee and small round eyeglasses, Andre did not look much like the man who had left Port Charles with a broken heart, a medical degree and a singular determination to rebuild his life. Except for the eyes which were still a vibrant Arctic blue, he was a different man altogether.

"You look better than I expected, Robert. By the way, Andre Chernin and Grant Andrews are dead. I'm Andre Garnier now and for the rest of my life,” Andre said taking his glasses off. "Anna is like family. And her being with child, it makes better sense why she contacted me."

"But how ... how did she do it?"

"Come over here." Andre motioned Robert and Abelard to join him on the long trestle table. Between monitors and laptops was spread a map of the world. Down the east coast of the United States and Central America a series of pins were spread in wide distances. A red line connected all the pins like a ribbon. "There are the breadcrumbs - Sag Harbor on Long Island, Chesapeake on the coast of Virginia, Georgia's Hilton Head Island and on and on."

"Traveling by boat makes sense. Fast, efficient yet relatively untraceable." Robert traced the trail. "Where do you believe they are now?"

"My last message came from Matamoros, Mexico. I think their next stop is Belize. That's where I'm headed."

"How can you be so sure of Belize?"

"The rest of the coastal towns with harbors and good medical facilities are tourist traps - Cancun, Cozumel. Faison wouldn't risk docking in those places unless he had no choice. Second, Anna has a pattern of doctor's visits to the same type of clinic — out of the way but connected to the outside world. There are some coast towns in Belize that fit her modus operandi. That's how she contacts me via the clinics."

"You've got to be kidding me," said Robert astonished.

Andre chuckled. "See for yourself." Andre handed Robert a sheaf of faxes. All of them were addressed to a Dr. Sean Grant at a Paris fax number. The messages were usually the same — short and sweet — 'Baby ok, Uncle Sean. Your sister A.'

"So elegantly simple, non?" Abelard said. "What a remarkable, audacious woman. I must meet her one day. I simply must."


	8. Triggered Memories

Beauchel Institute, December 2008

Heloise carefully cut out the two marriage certificates and Robin's surveillance picture from the album. Anna sat stock still in the armchair preparing herself for the procedure. Alex looked worriedly at her then at Robert.

"Robert, are you completely familiar with this procedure?" Alex asked.

"Faison gave me the general instructions to remove the lock. I have practiced up on hypnosis techniques over the years. I figured it might come in handy." Seeing the dubious looks that Alex was shooting his way, Robert added. "I CAN do this, Alex."

"I'm not questioning your competence or intent but your effectiveness. You're not a professional in this,” Alex clarified. "I was able to contact Tom Hardy this morning. He's never heard of this procedure at least the way you outlined it to me. Most mental conditioning exercises have one trigger and one triggered event or action. What you're proposing to undo has multiple triggers and multiple events, multiple variables. Many things could go wrong."

Robert frowned and said, "What else does the Hardy boy say?"

"He would prefer that we wait until he's able to come here and supervise. Perhaps, administer the procedure himself."

From across the room, Anna said, "No. We do this now."

Alex pressed on. "The risks are high. There is a possibility of further memory loss, violent psychosis-"

"Faison would never harm me. I could always count on that." Anna looked straight at Robert. "Where you and I are concerned, Robert, I'm not sure of anything. But, God help me, I do trust you to take care of me when I can't do it myself."

“Always,” Robert said.

"Love is blind and gullible," Alex remarked. "I reserve the right to call a complete end to this if I deem it medically dangerous. Agreed?"

Robert and Anna nodded.

* * *

Robert held their marriage certificates in the air. Then he turned them over to show the typed words on the other side. "This is the trigger mechanism. It's a long form poem by Andre Breton titled _Always For The First Time_. This trigger hides its complexity inside itself. Every few phrases you say will trigger a memory. Each memory is a different moment in time. Past to present. That's how you'll remember."

"Why is it so complex?" Anna asked.

"Because at the core of your identity is motherhood," Alex explained. "That identity overrides any other — wife, lover, friend, spy. It's the strongest drive and motivation for your psyche. Should you be coerced to do an action that is in direct opposition to that drive, your mind and will would strenuously reject the coercion. I suppose that the only way that Faison could counter that drive is to apply memory blocks layer by layer. You must have offered tremendous resistance."

"You had to forget the one thing that no mother could — her child," Robert added. "You had to forget everything — conception, the pregnancy period, giving birth. Everything."

"I was able to carry to term? I didn't lose it?" Anna asked. "What about the internal scarring? Was ... is the child all right? Healthy?"

"It was not a straightforward pregnancy." Robert picked up the photo of Robin. He flipped a corner and carefully separated another picture from it. He put the second photo in Anna's hands. "This is our son. You named him Andrew. He was ten years old in that picture."

Anna hands trembled. Robert held her hands in his own to steady them. In the picture was a slim almost scrawny boy with windswept dark blond hair with deep set Scorpio blue eyes under arching brows, a pert nose and pouty lips all set in a face that hinted of chiseled angles to come with maturity. He was kneeling inside a canoe holding an oar like an expert. His serious expression made him seem much older than ten. His gaze was turned slightly towards the distance as if he were navigating a path through an obstacle.

"He's handsome but so serious. He's so thin,” Anna observed. "What, you don't feed him?"

"Spoken like a true mother," Robert said.

Anna said excitedly, "I can't wait to tell Robin that Emma has a sixteen year old uncle. Does he take up after you? Or me?"

Robert flinched. Transfixed by the picture, Anna missed it but Alex and Heloise did not. They exchanged a glance but kept silent.

Anna showed off the picture to the women. "He must drive the girls mad at school. What school is he studying at? What does he want to be?"

Robert's face darkened and he looked away for a moment. "This is a lot to take in, Anna. Let's ... let's take it one step at a time all right."

Alex did not miss Robert's subtle evasions and neither did Heloise. They exchanged twin looks of concern before turning their attention back to Robert and Anna. Alex barely knew Heloise Garnier but she had a strong sense that there was more to the woman than what her polished surface revealed or rather chose to reveal. She would be a strong ally.

Robert positioned his chair opposite Anna's. He sat down. "I will put you in a hypnotic trance. Then I will trigger the first or root memory using a specific object that only you or I would know about. When I do that, a domino effect will start and all the other memories that have been suppressed will come to you. Hand me the picture and we'll start together."

"Together." With obvious reluctance, Anna handed the picture back to Robert and took the first part of the poem.

In a soothing voice, Robert began the mantra to ease Anna into the hypnotic state. "Anna, listen to my voice and only my voice. I'm going to help you relax. While I count to 3, I want you to breath in."

“1-2-3,” Anna breathed in. "Now hold your breath. 1-2-3. Good. Breath out now. 1-2-3."

Robert repeated the breathing exercise once more followed by the relaxation phase. "You have a good imagination, don't you?"

Anna nodded.

"I know you do. I want you to imagine a wave. A wave of relaxation just like on a boat. Feel this wave with each deep and fresh breath you take. As you fill your lungs you feel a wave of relaxation going from your head to your toes. Just like on a boat your body relaxes with this wave of relaxation."

Anna sighed contentedly.

"Feel your body relaxed from the knees to the thighs. Each muscle in your thighs now feel relaxed and calm like those in your calves and feet. Let this relaxation sink in and feel how good it is. Now you feel the muscles of the hips relaxed and calm. They feel heavy against the chair. You feel a wave of relaxation going from your head to your toes, just like on a boat your body relaxes with this wave of relaxation. You feel the muscles of your stomach relaxed and calm. this relaxation goes to your chest. Now in your neck down to your arms and now this relaxation that you feel is so good in your hands. Your hands are now relaxed the same way your feet are.”

Anna sat relaxed. Her head leaned back slightly.

Robert continued. "Now feel the wave again. You feel this wave with each breath you take. You feel a wave of relaxation going from your head to your toes, and this makes you want to sleep. Sleep now. Sleep. Close your eyes, Anna. Sleep."

Anna's eyes fluttered but only closed halfway. Her shoulders tensed.

"She's fighting it. Hardy did a good job on the resistance method." Robert breathed in and began to work Anna into an even deeper state of relaxation. "The wave is coming over you — a wave of relaxation. You've felt this before on a boat. As you sway from side to side you feel your body going deeper and deeper into hypnosis and relaxation. Feel this wave with each deep cleansing breath you take. As you fill your lungs you feel a wave of relaxation going from your head to your toes. You're starting to feel sleepy."

Anna's eyes finally closed but her neck and head were tense.

"I'm going to count backwards from 10 to 1 while you're going down some stairs covered with a rich thick deep carpet when you get to the bottom you will fall into a deep state of relaxation and hypnosis when we get to 1. Nod if you understand."

Anna nodded.

"Ten. You feel your body sinking into a deep rich carpeting. Nine. You feel your body sinking more into this luxurious carpeting. Eight. Your body is sinking now into this thick, plush, deep, rich, carpeting. Seven. You let your body sink and feel yourself going into a deep sleep. So relaxed."

Anna's head rolled back and her shoulders slumped.

"Six. Your body is sinking deeper and deeper. Five. Let your body and mind sleep now. You want to sleep. Four. Sleep now. Three. Keep sleeping now and feel your body sinking deeper."

Anna's breath became deep and measured, calm.

"Two. Sleep now. One. Sleep now." Robert examined Anna making sure that she was asleep. "Listen now, this is very important. When you wake up, you will remember everything that happened while you were in this state of relaxation and hypnosis. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Now, Anna, open your eyes. Begin reading the poem."

Perhaps buoyed by the revelation of her new son, Anna's voice held an almost palpably joyful tone as she read, "Always for the first time. Hardly do I know you by sight. You return at some hour of the night to a house at an angle to my window. A wholly imaginary house."

"Do you remember the Webber house? You lived there. You were happy." "Yeah," Anna fairly giggled. "Our family home. It's the Scorpio house now."

"Go back to that house. Open the front door. Step inside. Look around. Remember when you first moved in."

Anna laughed low and husky. "We were very naughty. Everywhere. And really creative."

Heloise hid her smile behind a manicured hand. Alex rolled her eyes heavenward.

Robert cleared his throat. "You brought your husband a surprise present that he really, really liked. Do you remember what it was?"

Anna smiled in memory. "Mmmm. An antique barber's chair. Mint condition."

"Very good. Now slow down that day. Go back to that night, after dinner. In the bedroom,” Robert said. "Focus now. This is a memory that you've forgotten. You WANT to see it. You NEED to remember it."

Anna's brows furrowed in concentration. "I can't." Her body tensed. Her breathing became uneven. "Something ... someone won't let me."

"There's only me and you, Anna. No one else." "That's not true," came Anna's sing song reply.

Alex examined Anna and the monitors. Heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and breath rate were all ticking higher and higher. Anna's fight or flight reaction was escalating. "Robert, slow it down."

Robert shook his head. His voice took on a note of urgency. "It's all right, Anna. I'm here with you. You WANT to see what's behind the door."

Anna's whole body was tense like a spring held in absolute tension. "I mustn't. Must protect. It's the only choice."

"You NEED to get inside the room,” Robert cajoled. Perspiration beaded on his forehead. "It's just a door. It won't hurt you."

"She will. So sad and angry." Anna rocked back and forth her hands like iron claws on the arm rests.

One by one the monitors began to beep and chirp.

Anna gasped a guttural intake. "She wants the pain to stop. MAKE IT STOP!" "It's too much for her. Break it off, Robert!" Alex shouted.

Without warning, Anna's eyes snapped wide open her eyes hard and blank. Her voice came out low, nearly melodic and oddly accented. "Do you hear ... the waters ... whispering?"

Robert recoiled as if burned.

"Pull her out. That is an order!" commanded Alex. "Now, Robert!"

Robert cried out. "I can't pull her out! This ... this wasn't supposed to happen!"


	9. In Danger's Way

Venezuela on the ocean going yacht, _Nereo_ , in 1992

The maritime radio squawked out a burst of static before a voice became discernible — "... suspect craft seen in Mochima ... heading unknown. Air sea rescue patrols dispatched to assist ... foreign authorities ... capture of known fugitives ... deadly force ...." A quick glance at radar told Captain Yaguezal that hiding in the islands of the Mochima Maritime Park had been a very bad decision.

The captain snatched the intercom. "Mr. Faison, authorities have been alerted. Helicopters sighted from the North. Apaches. Two of them."

"WSB, DVX, who else?" By reflex, Andre checked his semi-automatic pistol. "Just like the old days."

"How did they find us so ... so QUICKLY?!" Faison faced Robert accusation evident in his face and voice. "THIS ... THIS is your FAULT."

"We lost them in Caracas. I'm sure of it,” Andre said as he repacked his medical kit.

"Then someone knows me really well or we have a new player in the game," Robert said. Anna's head rested on his shoulder. "Time to wake up, sweetheart. Come on."

Faison smashed a finger on the intercom. "Captain, all engines full. Out to sea!" "No! Not to sea. Towards the marina."

"Back? Why?" Faison demanded.

"In the open sea, we're sitting ducks," Robert explained. "But closer to the shipping lanes and the shoreline, I may have more options for a ... a diversion or escape."

"I see." Faison's eyes lingered on Anna's still face. "You mean to go through with your plan."

Robert glanced at Andre then Anna and finally at Faison. "We're already dead to the world. I have no evidence to clear us. We're the juicy scraps in a junkyard game between rabid hungry dogs!"

"Any of them will shoot first and damn the questions or the circumstances," Andre's glance fell to the transport incubator secured to a wall in the far side of the cabin. The power indicator blinked green. "The battery has four hours left. I have to get the baby to land, Robert."

"I'll buy you as much time as I can." Robert said gravely. "Whatever it takes." "We will do the same for you," replied Faison.

"Not on my child's life you won't. It's time we parted company."

"The hero must be the martyr. That must be a rule somewhere,” Faison said with disgust. He punched the intercom. "Captain, change course West and return to Bahia Redonda."

"What? You are mad! They will-"

"You have your orders. Execute them." Faison removed a folded piece of paper from his jacket. He handed the paper to Robert. "You may still be taken alive. Here are the instructions as promised. It is a rush job but the ... the best I can do. Once you begin, you cannot ... must not stop until the end, you understand?"

Robert nodded. "There won't be any lasting effects?"

"Still suspicious, Robert, after all that has passed? I would protect Anna with my life and-"

"I respect you. That doesn't mean I trust you, with anything or anyone of mine,” Robert said meaning every word.

"Boats incoming from the South," Captain Yaguezal interrupted on the intercom. "Fast ones."

"Full speed on original course, Captain. Evasive maneuvers."

The engines whined as the throttle was opened fully. The _Nereo_ smashed against the choppy waves at breakneck speed. Faison issued more rapid fire orders. They could hear the rushed footsteps on deck of the crew. A sudden course change made the deck pitch violently. The floor of the main cabin tilted dangerously sending loose articles crashing down.

"Get her out of here, Scorpio!" Faison yelled while staggering out of the main cabin on his way to the command deck.

"Andre, take care of our boy and ... and see to it that Faison keeps to his part of the deal."

"You have my word and Jacques'." Andre helped Robert with Anna before closing the hatch.

He set to work on the incubator intent on maximizing the battery life. Briefly, he lifted the reflective insulation quilt to look in on his patient. Andrew slept, premature but with a healthy red hue to his skin, peacefully unaware of how much his life was dependent on the tubes and sensors twining around his body. "All right, namesake of mine, it's just you and me. You're a fighter like your parents. Keep fighting just a bit longer."

* * *

Robert clambered up the stairs cradling Anna in his arms. The color had returned to her cheeks. She would wake soon. The wind beat at them as the _Nereo_ sped recklessly through the water. Under his feet, the deck rose and dipped. Over the howling wind, Robert could hear the sound of heavy duty hydraulic motors beginning to grind and pump.

He grinned, "Faison's not so little surprise." Robert glanced up at the command deck. He could see Faison watching their departure.

The Nereo lifted upwards on its hydrofoil struts. Its speed increased until it was literally flying over the water. In the distance, the shoreline and marina were just visible over the horizon. Freighters, tankers and cruise ships lay anchored off shore.

"Big boats, hmm, I can work with that," Robert said under his breath.

He grabbed a passing crewman to help him hoist Anna into a cigarette boat then lower it to near water level. Secure in her seat harness, Anna began to stir. Robert tugged at the guide rope and they hit the churning water violently. He started the engine. He headed for the freighters and tankers furthest from the _Nereo_.

With a line of big ships in sight and the helicopters closing in, Robert zigged and zagged evading but still trying to keep their attention. They had to know he and Anna were off and away from the yacht.

"Robert?" Anna said groggily.

"Hey, time to join the party, luv!" He shouted back at her. "How do you feel?"

Anna kept her head down as she moved across the boat towards Robert. "Headache, a little stiff."

Tracer fire exploded around the boat. Robert swerved hard right. "If you can return fire, I'd really appreciate it!"

"Faison? The boat?" Anna smashed the glass window of the gun cabinet. She pulled out an assault rifle.

"We're well away from him." Robert picked his target — a tanker low in the water with no visible crew on the deck.

Anna slipped an ammunition clip into the rifle with practiced ease. She looked up and saw the helicopters advancing and the tanker looming in front. "Going to try to mask our radar signature behind the tanker?"

"Got it in one, Mrs. Scorpio."

Anna pulled Robert's face down for a quick kiss. "For luck, Mr. Scorpio!"

Robert grinned wickedly holding her gaze. "When you're this good, who needs luck."

"Robert, you ARE going to tell me what going on, right ?"

"Over mai tais. Later.” Robert winked at Anna.

"On a hot beach,” Anna snapped back as she positioned herself to return fire.

Robert's boat screamed into the scattered maze of drifting tankers and freighters. The black Apache helicopters separated with one following the boat and the other hanging back to deal with the rest of the pursuing boats making their way towards the tankers.

The maze was going to be crowded and soon.


	10. Cascade

Beauchel Institute, December 2008

"Do you hear ... the waters ... whispering?" Anna repeated. "Stop this or I will," said Alex firmly.

"I can't. Stopping will do more harm than good."

"This is too much for her. Stop right now!"

"Let me try something different." Robert leaned closer to her. His voice became gentler but still authoritative. "Anna, back away from the door. Stop trying to get in."

The tension left her body. Panting, she slumped in the chair like a string-less marionette.

"We need to relax again. While I count to 3, I want you to breath in."

“1-2-3,” Robert began the relaxation technique again. "Now hold your breath. 1-2-3. Good. Breathe out now. 1-2-3."

Once Anna was calm, he resumed coaxing her to open the door. "You're at the door. You're not alone. I'm with you."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Robert."

"That's right, Anna. Do you trust me?"

Anna's smile was bright as the sun, "Yes. I do."

Robert took one of her hands into his own. "We're a good team."

"The best."

"I'm here with you now. Can you feel my hand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Open the door."

"I can't. She won't let me."

“We’ll open the door together. I'm right there with you holding your hand. We're stronger together aren't we?"

"Always."

"Good. Open the door. Push against it."

"I'm trying."

"Remember, I'm right here ... with you. Keep trying."

Her body stiffened. Her face contorted in effort then pain.

Anna turned the knob and stepped inside and into another forgotten memory.

* * *

It was their bedroom. At that moment Robert came in and closed the door behind him. The lock clicked into place. Robert lifted the phone receiver off its cradle and left it lying beside the phone.

"Not taking any chances on interruptions, Robert?" asked Anna who sat on the edge of their bed brushing her hair.

"Nada. Zip. This Eckert case has me all distracted. But right now, at this very minute, I need to focus exclusively on my wife."

"This wife likes what she's hearing so far."

Robert knelt in front of her and leaned against the bed, a hand on either side of her. His eyes looked into hers. Her breath hitched. Robert bent slightly and kissed her. Anna's lips parted to taste him. Her tongue glided upon his lips as she leaned unresisting into his solid body. She felt the start of the familiar surge of awareness and heat they always generated when together. She slid her arms around his neck and she lost herself in a mindless kiss.

Reluctantly, he broke the kiss. "You've been distracted all day."

"Have I kindled your curiosity?”

"Along with other things. What's going on with the spy who loves me?" "The answer is going to cost you,” she teased.

"I need to make love to you for an entire week." Robert cradled her face with his gentle hands. He kissed her lightly once and twice running his tongue over her lips, down her neck, kissing the hollow at the base of her throat. He could feel her trembling underneath him. "No, make that two weeks. That may just be enough."

His hand drifted to the opening in her dressing gown. Lazily, his eyes never leaving hers, he parted her dressing gown. His hand not so accidentally brushed against her breast. Naturally, her breast fit snugly in his hand. Her back arched in invitation. He responded by rubbing his thumb across her nipple. She shuddered at his touch. Her hands pressed hard against his shoulders.

"What's the big secret? C'mon, tell the hubby." He kissed the top of her breasts.

She gasped, "The what?"

Confident hands slid her gown off her shoulders. He whispered just behind her ear. "The reason for your distraction, m'dear."

She bent back towards the bed pulling him with her. "We're having a baby."

His head shot up. "Wh- what? What did you say?!"

"You heard me, oh future father-to-be." Anna brushed her fingers through Robert's hair. "You just couldn't wait to be told properly could you?"

"A ... a ... a ..." At that moment, Robert's normally glib tongue deserted him.

"Now, finish what you started. Action first. Talk later. I’m afflicted by pregnancy hormones now."

Robert chuckled, "The wife of the house is always right."

"Damn straight."

Eager hands undid buttons and clasps and generally took care of any obstacles to feeling skin against skin.

* * *

Later that evening, they lay spooning contentedly against each other.

"This changes everything," Robert said.

"How so?"

"For one, it means I have to be Port Charles Police Commissioner for life."

Anna laughed. "It does not!"

"How else am I going to keep my expanding family safe, huh?" Robert's hand moved lower down to her belly on its own accord. "My work is a hazard in and of itself. You attract trouble like a magnet. Robin is teenage trouble personified. Then this baby is ... is going to be all consuming but in a good way. And ... and I'm going to have to keep an eye out on little brother, too. Is the PCPD going to be enough personnel?"

Anna giggled. "It sounds to me like you're the one who's going to need some help, Robert."

"No, no, I'm fine. I'm getting used to the idea," Robert said. "Not everyday a man finds himself about to become a father. It's an adjustment that I am more than willing to make."

"Happy?"

“Ecstatic,” Robert said. "When should we tell Robin?"

Anna sighed and didn't reply for a full minute. "I want to wait."

"Why? She'd be over the moon."

"Oh, she'll be the best big sister anyone could have I'm sure." Anna turned to lie facing Robert. "When I lost mine and Duke's baby, it hit her very hard. She tried to understand and help me but she's still a child for all the teenage posturing and drama. I don't want to put a burden on her if something happens with this one. I want to wait until we're more sure that this pregnancy can and will be carried to term."

"You're right. Even I forget that she's not a miniature adult.”

"Let's wait until after the first trimester to tell anyone. I should be showing a baby bump by then."

"Fine with me." Robert traced Anna's collarbone with a finger. "Speaking of something happening to this baby of ours, I want to be certain that you're taking care of yourself."

"I don't like where this conversation is leading,” Anna commented. "I'm not going to stop working at the firm. Pregnant women can work."

"Not if it involves car chases, stakeouts and surveillance work. I have to put my foot down on this one, Anna."

"Not much chance of that since we changed Devane Donely into a public relations firm. You think planning events and dinners is going to be dangerous?"

"The canapés could be poisoned. The cakes could be disguised bombs. The catering staff could be covert operatives on an assassination mission. There are a million and one possibilities, Anna. You have to take this seriously now,” Robert answered grumpily. "I don’t want you to take any more chances than you have to. That's all."

Anna's lips twitched as she suppressed the laughter bubbling inside of her. "I fully understand your point of view but I'm not an idle person, Robert. Nine months of doing nothing will drive me crazy."

"Doing nothing? There's the nursery to put together, lamaze classes to go to, doctor's appointments, shopping for stuff,” Robert said. "I have to start a list first thing tomorrow."

Anna surrendered. She laid back and laughed heartily.

Robert snapped his fingers. "The name! We have to do a lot of thinking on that. You lucked out with Robin. Robin Scorpio. It just rolls off the tongue. I'll add a baby name book to the list."

“A Scorpio in full parent-to-be mode?

Robert's enthusiasm was infectious and irresistible. Anna decided to play along. "I ought to mention that providing security for a baby is going to be challenging. Babies get into everything especially when they start crawling about. They're little escape artists, too. I had such a hard time with Robin. She found all kinds of ways to try and get out of her crib - climbing, jumping off."

"Really?" Robert's alarmed look was both touching and hilarious. "Everywhere?"

"Oh, you take your eye off them for one second and they're in the kitchen banging pots and pans or going exploring in the cupboards."

Robert's brow was furrowed in concentration. "Baby-proofing, right. On it. Still have a few months to go. I'll figure something out."

"You've never lived with a small child, Robert. And, we'll have a teenager, too. I won't be surprised if all our hair turns grey overnight."

"Doesn't matter. You're always beautiful to me!" Robert declared.

"I actually believe you mean that."

"I do. Our baby is going to take up after her lovely mum."

"I think he'll be as handsome as his father."

"Boy or girl, doesn't matter to me as long as baby and mum are healthy,” Robert said. "When's your next doctor's appointment? I'll clear my calendar for the day. Maybe, we can go out for lunch afterwards and start nursery shopping."

Anna smiled. "I'm not going to be able to stop you from going overboard am I?"

"A Scorpio in full parent-to-be mode? Nothing short of a natural disaster of epic proportions is going to stop me. You and Robin can pick out the decor and furniture for the nursery. Mac and I will handle the paint job and lighting,” Robert declared airily.

"What have I gotten myself into?" asked Anna feigning exasperation.

"Everything is finally going our way. It's smooth sailing for the good ship Scorpio from here on out." Robert settled into a comfortable position with Anna nestled against him. They slept until dawn.

* * *

In the suite, a soft smile played on Anna's face. "I couldn't wait to tell you. Good thing you came home on time. Get to experience it for the first time from the very beginning."

A flash of pain crossed Robert's face. "That was the plan."

"You wanted a boy but you wouldn't say so,” Anna said. "Robert, why do I feel pain and anger? I should be happy, shouldn't I?"

Robert cupped her face in his hand. He said earnestly, "Anna, that was a memory from a long time ago. It can't hurt you anymore."

"No more pain,” said Anna with a big smile.

"Look at me. You're in the present again." Robert placed the paper with the poem in her hand again. "I want you to read more of the poem. You will remember more memories. Remember that they can't hurt you. They have no power over you. Do you understand?"

"No power. I understand." Anna began to read as they all watched her closely. "It is there that from one second to the next, In the inviolate darkness. I anticipate once more the fascinating rift occurring. The one and only rift. In the facade and in my heart. The closer I come to you."

Her voice faded away on the last syllable. Her body began to shake. Her eyes widened.

"I can't let him know ... hide, must hide." Anna's voice faded in and out as her mind experienced a stream of memories. "Holly is ... dead. I love Robert ... Robin ... most important thing." Her voice softened became coquettish. "You always wanted a family with me, didn't you, Cesar?"

Robert swallowed hard. "The memory cascade has begun. I don't know everything that happened between Anna and Faison. I guess we're about to find out."


	11. Playing the Part

February 1992 Somewhere

Anna concluded that she had been drugged. She had all the classic symptoms. Her throat felt scratchy.Her eyes felt dry and heavy. She opened them with effort. She moved her head experimentally side to side.

"You are awake." It was not the voice she wanted to hear. "Just in time for dinner." "I thought I was dreaming. Had to be."

"You have been asleep far longer than I estimated the dosage to warrant but that was to my advantage." Faison arranged a vase of roses on her bedside table. "Something to brighten the room I think."

Anna sat up. Unconsciously, her hand dropped to her abdomen. When she did, clarity came to her with such brutal speed that she gasped loudly. "Oh, my God."

"A headache?" Faison asked all solicitous and helpful.

"Just ... just give me a minute." Her mind raced. She began to breathe rhythmically forcing a mask of calm over her features that belied her very real panic. "How long have I been asleep?"

"A full day. I was ... was growing concerned." Faison examined her face. "I see the color is returning to your lovely face. You must be hungry. Dinner will be prepared soon and we may continue our discussion."

Anna was definitely not feeling hungry. "Discussion?"

"Do you not remember what I said on your wedding day to Robert? That you were marrying the wrong man. And so you did."

The tang of nausea clung to the back of her throat. She kept breathing deeply trying to relax and ease her gag reflex. "You were wrong then and you are wrong now. May I have some water please?"

"Of course," Faison walked to a sideboard on the other side of her bed where glasses and a clear carafe of water sat. He poured half a glass and offered it to her.

As she sipped, she surreptitiously took in more details about the windowless room she was imprisoned in. A small fireplace held court on the far wall. Her bed lay opposite. The door lay on her left. By the door was a love seat and chintz armchair arranged around a small table. The door to her right she assumed led to a bathroom. Sconces on the walls provided the only light in the room. It was a gilded cage, her cell.

With each sip, Anna could feel her strength returning. Under the coverlet, she stretched her feet and legs. Her left leg felt heavy.

"I do forgive you your mistake. I can do nothing else," Faison said just as a knock sounded on the leftmost door. "Enter."

A bullet-headed man with a muscular build and serious demeanor pushed a tray of food into the room before him. Anna noted his sidearm and the definite outline of a boot knife — a large one. An earpiece wire stuck out from his left ear. He projected an air of confident malice.

"Mesick, you may lay out our dinner on that table."

"Hmm, mercenaries now. I quite miss the urbane Jacque." Anna's observation was laced with obvious sarcasm.

Faison arched a brow. "Jacque grew tiresome and useless. Prison life made him a changed man. On the other hand, Mr. Mesick is superb at his job, very professional."

"Just one man on staff. That's a letdown for you,” Anna said. "Not even dogs?"

Faison's eye drifted towards Anna's legs. "Modern technology can be far more accommodating."

Curiosity prompted Anna to lift her coverlet exposing her left leg. On her ankle was a bracelet of heavy gold chain decorated with a series of square gems. The faint emanation of heat from a red square scalded her skin. She guessed a miniature transmitter accounted for the heat.

"An insurance policy, Anna. Wander too far from this room and an alarm will notify me. I then have the option to remotely blow your leg off."

"What happened to the tried and true method of some rope and a gag?"

"We must move with the times." Faison touched her forearm intent on helping her off the bed.

Anna pulled away. "Don't touch me!"

"As you wish," Faison pulled her chair out and waited for her.

"I wish it very much!" Anna said testily.

"I am a patient man. One day you shall appreciate and anticipate my touch."

Anna channelled her simmering rage into gracefully arising from the bed composed and alert. As she did, she bit back a harsh if accurate retort. She could not alienate or provoke him at the moment. She had to play for time and opportunity. "I agree. You are patient and persistent."

"When the prize is worthy, determination and perseverance are essential."

"Hardly worthy," Anna sat down at the table. "There are many women in the world more-"

"None are fated to be mine as you are, Anna. I realized that a long time ago." Faison poured red wine into her wineglass.

Anna ignored it and sipped water instead. "Fated?"

"You have been instrumental in the most important points of my life."

Faison's wistful tone reminded Anna of another conversation. It was with Robert at the bar of the Port Charles Hotel on a memorable Valentine's Day.

Robert's words merged with hers in her mind. _I consider this a third time then. It's funny how we seem to be meeting in bars at the high points of our lives. This a high point? Yes, I would say so considering the low point we've just been through. Well, it's good to be talking again. I agree._

Images flitted through her memories. She remained silent as she relived the night privately riding along on a hormonal surge. _Here's to our daughter and Valentines. And to kissing away hostilities._

Faison took her silence as assent to continue. He rambled as he began to eat. "My career was enhanced greatly by the spectacular success of your missions. Were it not for you I would not have had the influence I had. The more challenging the mission, the better you performed. I tried to reward you appropriately but you never accepted any of my gifts. Using you as the protagonist of my books was a stroke of good fortune. Your help was invaluable in my completed research on the Lumina crystals. You see all high points. Together we can be the best, Anna."

"Together," Anna murmured more entranced by her memories than her present reality.

Faison noticed that Anna had not touched her food. "Are you not hungry?"

"Starving," Anna said absentmindedly.

"Is the food not to your liking? They are all your favorites. Have your tastes changed?" Faison asked.

The question brought Anna out of her reminiscences with a jolt. Anna took a long gulp of water. She brought her mind fully to the present. "Um, food, yes. It's fine. Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

Faison smiled approvingly at her. "I am gratified that we can be civil. Open hostilities ruins the appetite."

"We're adults. Certainly not strangers. Friends even after our past." Anna selected the items least offensive to her pregnancy affected sense of smell and began to eat. She really was hungry. "No need to make the situation more unpalatable for either of us."

"I agree," Faison poured more wine for himself. "You have not touched the wine, Anna. I selected it myself."

Anna thought quickly. "I don't think I ought to. I have a slight headache from the knockout drug."

"I sincerely ... wish that it had not been necessary,” Faison said with obvious distaste.

Anna brushed her loose hair back. "I'd like to avoid a repeat event myself."

"So would I," Faison said. He twirled his wineglass in the air. Then looked at Anna through the glass like a prism. "Do you know what I see, Anna?"

"A reluctant dinner companion?" Anna retorted barely biting back the rest of a torrent of words that clamored to be said. She had to be rational and deliberate with every word she uttered. Her baby's life depended on it.

"I see a woman wasting away in this backwater of a city."

Anna was elated to know that they were still in Port Charles. The room held no clues. Try as she might she had not been able to discern any identifiable sounds like sirens, harbor bells or the like. She surmised that she had been drugged at the Taylor home and then brought here. She calculated that she had been missing for a little over twenty-hours. Robert was due back from Mac's birthday party in New York tomorrow. She had to keep buying time for Robert to find her.

Above everything else, she must not reveal her pregnancy. She remembered the portrait of Faison, Robin and herself hanging in Wyndemere, a portrait of a family. If Faison knew of her baby, it would change everything. She had to maintain control of the situation.

"I see a woman in the prime of her life," Faison continued. His tone was admiring and persuasive. "I see a woman unafraid of challenges becoming content to atrophy and wither settling ... to a life of the mundane."

"I don't call having a family mundane," Anna answered.

"Remember what I said to you when I recruited you into the DVX?"

Anna looked at Faison straight in the eyes. "Yes. You said that I could be more, more than I was, more than I could ever imagine."

"I still believe that, Anna. You have so much inside of you, locked away by the drabness of this ... so ordinary a life. You can be extraordinary!"

"I have so much now that I didn't have before — a loving family, stability, a home, good friends, roots in a community, a future. You can't offer those things to me."

Faison leaned across the table. He took one of her hands in his. "I could if you would only allow it."

Anna controlled the reflex to pull her hand away. Her voice softened. "Please understand. Nothing you do can change my feelings towards Robert and my family with him. Cesar, our time, if we ever could have had one, is in the past. Let it lie and move into the present."

"What of the light in your eyes whenever we met? I looked forward to each meeting just for that. There were no feelings then?"

"Cesar, I was fifteen when I first met you through Nanny, your mother. I was a sheltered lonely idealist who read endless romance novels of chivalry and happily ever afters. And here you came unsettling my orderly existence. You always listened to me even when I nattered on about anything and everything. You didn't laugh at my dreams. I was fascinated as only a teenager can be at someone who is nineteen and infinitely more worldly and wise in her eyes. It was nothing deeper than that."

"Are you sure, Anna?"

"I like to think we became friends after I joined the DVX years later. Certainly you always encouraged me and I felt that you supported me, too."

"Always." Faison let her hand go and sat back in the armchair. "Tell me, honestly between us, now. If you had never met Robert would you have stayed with the DVX and ... me?"

Anna took her time answering. When she did it was a sincere answer and her eyes told Faison so. "I don't know. I was a different person then. We all were. Maybe I would have stayed with you."

Faison nodded satisfied. "I have always considered us as friends. I am happy that you think so, too. That is a start."

"Start? For what?"

"For our future, of course," assured Faison. "What else?"


	12. Coping Mechanism

February 1992 Somewhere

All the light sconces were turned off save for one giving the illusion of night darkness in the room. Cool air wafted from two small vents. Her nerves had yet to unwind from the tension-filled hours in Faison's company. Exhaustion dragged at her limbs and body but her mind would not surrender to sleep. It couldn't.

Anna huddled in the bed with the duvet pulled tight. Her skin felt clammy and cool. Unconsciously, her body spooned against the pillow she hugged to her just as she would with Robert. His body was a furnace. It always calmed her to feel that comforting heat in the night. Tonight more than any other, she desperately sought that comfort.

She had to rest for the baby's sake more than her own. She focused her mind to remembering happy times and good memories. To lose her sense of reality if only for a few hours of sleep.

* * *

Robin looked first at her father then her mother and back to her father. There was something going on between her parents she was sure of it but she wasn't picking up any clues this morning.

"Why are you looking at me like that for?" Anna asked. "Is my lipstick smeared or something?"

"No, Mom, I'm just noticing that you and Dad don't fight as much anymore."

"Sure we do," Robert said.

"Not like the way you used to before you got married," Robin insisted. Her voice changed to a quasi-scientific tone tinged with a faux British accent. "Our recent observations of the subjects has led us to conclude that they are much too happy. The level of insults has reached barely detectable levels and the grumpy factor is surprisingly absent with or without caffeine."

Anna chortled, "My little scientist."

"We are happy. What's wrong with that?" Robert asked.

"It's fantastic, Dad, but I think that there's something else going on."

Anna looked at her daughter over the rim of her coffee mug. "Really? Do tell."

"You're planning a surprise for Thanksgiving aren't you?"

"I'm dreading just planning the menu," Anna said. "Who has time to plan surprises?"

Robin was not deterred by Anna's offhand dismissal of a surprise. She tried a different tactic. "Hmm, something for Christmas then. Are we going to see the ballet or a show in New York City?"

Robert looked at his daughter. "I seem to recall that that's been done before."

"I loved the Nutcracker. I wouldn't mind seeing it again." Robin turned suitably adoring eyes at her father. "And, I know Jody would love it. We can get all dressed up and everything."

Robert made noncommittal noises while finishing his eggs and toast. Anna rustled the morning paper she was reading. Robin looked at one then the other parent.

"Okay, okay, keep your secrets and surprises. I know that I'll find out eventually anyway," Robin said. "It's just a matter of time."

"It wouldn't be a surprise if we told you," said Robert.

"AHA! So there IS a surprise. I knew it!" Robin grinned in triumph.

"Can't put one over my little girl." Robert smiled like the cheshire cat. "Now, give us a kiss and head off to school. Class presidents have to serve as good examples."

As soon as Robin closed the front door, her parents exploded into laughter. Robin heard the peals of laughter and smiled to herself. All was right in the world.

"I'm going to have to hide my appointment book from her," said Anna. "She notices everything."

"She knows us too well," said Robert. He buttered his second pair of toast.

"She has you wrapped around her little finger. She knows it and you pretend that it's not so."

"No pretending involved. She learned those moves from her mother." Robert refilled his coffee. "When are we going to tell her?"

"When I'm in the second trimester in the fourth month around the end of January. By then, Dr. Collins can have a better long term prognosis. Anyway, I'm going to start showing. No hiding that from our eagle-eyed daughter."

"All right. But no later. I want sufficient time to gloat over impending fatherhood, buy cigars, dote on my wife, go to Lamaze classes and all that stuff,” Robert said.

"You've been reading up have you. Good. The first trimester is the calm before the storm that is the second trimester."

Robert grinned. "I'm looking forward to my sexy wife."

"Oh, yeah, with mood swings more violent than an ocean in a storm, stretch marks on my belly and bloated ankles as large as your forearms."

"I'll take all that plus the happy glow and the sex drive of a courtesan." Robert said. "In fact, I'm going to make some changes in the department to free up my time."

"What kind of changes?"

"This Eckert case has brought to my attention the department's lack of finesse in matters forensic. We're good but we could be better."

"What do you have in mind?"

"You started to modernize the department and I'd like to start back where you left off. It was definitely the right thing to do."

Anna brightened at his professional compliment. "That might be a tall order with the new budget."

"It won't happen overnight but we have really good people, dedicated people. And the city deserves the best force it can have, especially when my children are going to be wandering around it."

"I knew there was a selfish reason in there somewhere,” teased Anna.

"A new round of promotions is coming up. I'm going to max out the number of detective promotions. Then augment the beat cops with seniors from the police academy. Get them some early experience."

"Start up the neighborhood watch, Robert. We had a good record with that. It ended due to neglect not volunteers. Maybe, use retired cops as coordinators."

"Good one. I'll add that to the list. Any other suggestions?"

"Education. I've always wanted to have a ... a day in the department kind of tour for the kids. That way they can have an early understanding of what the police do and, more importantly, why. Maybe having their fingerprints done, a mugshot taken and an hour in a cell will impress upon them the reality of the seamier side of life in Port Charles."

"Excellent. I'm going to pick through the senior detectives and send a few to the Bureau for forensic training. I believe Guy would welcome an assistant. I plan on delegating more to him."

"Poor Guy!" said Anna in mock horror.

Robert wadded up his napkin. "What have you planned for the day?"

"I'm going into the office and check out the leftover cases on file-"

"Anna, we talked about this. Let Felicia and the new guy handle it. That's why you and Sean hired him to clear the PI decks."

"And what am I supposed to do all day long?"

“Decorate the house, flip through magazines, attend PTA meetings, go shopping for more shoes and ... and gestate madly," Robert said. "That last one is the most important."

"You have visions of turning me into ... into Betty Crocker."

"I have visions of you holding our newborn child in your arms while I take a gazillion million pictures," Robert said softly. "I see us bringing the baby home. Mac holding him or her at the christening. Robin fussing over it endlessly. Our friends complimenting us on the most gorgeous baby in existence, ever."

The unspoken longing in his eyes made Anna pause. She knew how much this baby meant to her but it meant so much more to Robert. Late at night, he had questioned her over and over about how her pregnancy with Robin had gone. Though she had made light of the various hardships she had endured, she knew that he hadn't been fooled.

She suspected that he had at one time years ago grilled Filomena on details. Anna did not want to dwell on how Filomena must have described her arrival on her doorstep — heavily pregnant with only the possessions she could carry and weary from evading DVX surveillance.

Robert led Anna to the sofa. He put his arms around her for their now traditional morning routine. "I wasn't there for Robin when I should have been. I wasn't able to support you in any way. That's not going to be the case this time around."

"I need to be doing something, Robert."

"I know. I know. And as soon as the baby is born, I don't care if you decide to scale the Himalayas while I stay home and tend to the children."

"I do love you," Anna laughed. "Children has a nice sound to it."

"Yeah, it does." Robert squeezed her hand. "There's nothing I can do to ... to make up for our lost years but I mean to try my hardest."

"And drive me crazy in the end." Anna said. "We've come full circle you and I. Our family. Our new baby-to-be. We have no secrets between us anymore. The past is past. Let's enjoy the present."

"I'm going to enjoy it best knowing that you're taking care of yourself. I promise you, if you want to go back to day to day PI or PR work afterwards, I won't hold you back. If you want to set up a nursery at the office that's fine with me. However, we're going to have to increase the security of that place."

"I was thinking of hiring a nanny. What do you think?"

"As long as she can pass a drug test, a thorough background check and a psychological profile from the Hardy boy."

"That won't leave much of a pool of candidates, Robert."

"I'm not going to have people of questionable intent and character anywhere around our family," Robert said strongly.

Anna had noticed that Robert's protective instincts had become more and more pronounced lately. "Robert, you're going too far."

"No, no. Going too far would be hiring an ex-WSB agent as a nanny. That would be going too far. However, it's not a bad idea. Someone retired could work out.” Robert began to tick off a series on his fingers. "There's the WSB, Interpol, MI5, MI6, SAS, Scotland Yard. You know for a nation that's not a world power, you Brits have a lot intelligence agencies."

Anna laughed. "I thought at first that you were bellowing like a papa bear protecting his lair. Upon further reflection, I think you're going through a sympathetic pregnancy."

"I am not!" Robert was openly in terror of the idea.

"The mood swings, the increased appetite, the paranoia about me and other-"

"All married men gain weight. It's part of that feeling of comfort and wellbeing that comes from a stable, loving home life,” he said. "And you need to ... to start dressing more matronly. Maternally, is that a word?"

"Matronly?!" Anna guffawed. She looked down at her classic yet decidedly non- flashy outfit - a white silk blouse over long, fitted silver gray pants. "What's wrong with how I dress? It's simple and presentable I think."

"You're not the problem, Anna."

"But you just said I need to change my dress code."

"You need to hide your shape more." The second he said it Robert knew he had made a tactical error.

Anna pursed her lips. "I know I'm not as ... as abundantly curvy as others but I'm fairly happy with my body shape."

"I LOVE your shape. Just the way it is." Robert cleared his throat formulating a new tactic to get out of a situation that could land him in the guest room for a week. "I've never noticed before but do you know how men ogle you? On the streets, in restaurants. Even at the station."

"What other people think isn't important to me," Anna said. "I dress for me and sometimes for you.”

"That's it! Your dresses and stuff,” Robert said. "Combined with your built-in gorgeousness and the eye-catching way you move, ogling is inevitable. If you must wear those tight skirts, wear a LONG jacket on top. Wear looser pants and ... fuzzy cardigans with crazy patterns."

"Be a FRUMP? Seriously?"

"Only in public," Robert said smoothly. "I expect something else in private."

Anna snuggled closer and whispered, “There’s only one man that interests me. Said man should think of my clothes as gift wrapping. For him. Anywhere. Anytime."

"Christmas every day," Robert replied. "Me like."

"Hmm, I thought you would," Anna brushed his chest. "Where did we leave off? Signs of sympathetic pregnancy I think.”

"I admit my clothes are feeling a tad tight lately. I'll start exercising more. Have smaller lunches,” Robert said. "That does not mean that I have whatsit symptoms."

"I disagree. We need to check for more symptoms. I want to make certain of your affliction." Anna unbuttoned his shirt and slid a hand inside. "Are your nipples tender?"

"What does that have to-" Robert began.

She squeezed gently but with some pressure. "Ow! Hey, don't dig your nails in."

"Oops. Let me kiss it and make it all better."

Before she could make good on her action, Robert led her by the hand upstairs. "I think you're right about this sympathetic stuff. It warrants a full investigation or two."

"You'll be late for work. Is that a good example to set the department?"

"Ah, the department will be in Lewis' capable hands until noon,” Robert said. "Delegation is the mark of good leadership. A more pressing matter has come up and it needs my immediate and thorough attention."

* * *

Anna finally drifted off to sleep. A small smile graced her lips.


	13. Trust and Faith

Beauchel Institute, December 2008

The woman nearly writhed in the chair so consumed was she with thoughts, feelings and memories of times she had forgotten and yet could now never forget again. Alternating between tears of bitterness and joy, Anna experienced all the tumult of the past accompanied by a litany of comments and observations. She was on a roller coaster that was still climbing to the top. The dive downward would be shattering.

The monitors were clearly describing the uphill climb. Anna's heart rate and blood pressure were fluctuation at all levels common to someone in a life and death struggle. Her hair clung to her face. Her neck was soaked with perspiration.

"This is so ... so graceless,” Alex said watching her twin closely. "Hypnosis strips any dignity you possess. It's hideous."

"Speaking from personal experience?" asked Robert.

"Unfortunately, yes. Have you been a recipient yourself?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Robert mimicked. He dried Anna's forehead with a towel.

"I don't know how much more she can tolerate."

"Never underestimate Anna's inner strength. I've learned not to."

"How much longer?"

"She's read the entire poem. We have to wait until all the memories are released. It could take a few more minutes or an hour or more."

"How many memories have been repressed?"

Robert frowned. "I don't know."

Alex checked the monitors one more time. Then she studied the personal tableau before her. Robert leaned into Anna to dab her forehead or hold her before she fell out the chair. His touch was sure and tender. It was a behavior at odds with his normally abrupt manner. When her sister grew more agitated, a touch or a word from Robert calmed her. Anna's every emotion was laid bare to this man. Yet, she sensed no anxiety or personal fear from either of them.

She had been surprised at how readily Anna had ceded control of the situation to Robert. There was no drawn out debate, jockeying for position or fighting for control. She remembered Anna's clashes with her former husband David Hayward often times over the most trivial things. With him there was always an underlying competitiveness and mistrust despite their undeniable passion for each other. But with Robert there was an unspoken acceptance and a nearly tangible sense of mutual trust that went beyond marital affection or mutual passion. She doubted Anna trusted anyone in the same way not even her own twin sister.

Despite their obvious bond, Alex could not decipher the tangle of their lives no matter how she tried. During her recovery, Anna had talked very little about her life with Robert and Alex did not want to pry. Robin's stories were loving, often funny, but, as any child would, only saw Anna and Robert in their parental roles. Alex wanted to know about them as individuals and lovers.

Robert had been rather more open with her than she had expected. Perhaps, it was time to try the blunt approach.

"Robert, I must ask. Why have you waited this long to tell her about Andrew?"

"It wasn't the right time."

"That's not an answer."

"That answer fits as well as any other," answered Robert. "Until all the facts are out, you're going to have to trust me and my judgment, Alex."

"You ask me to trust you on a few day's acquaintance. That's presumptuous. But Anna trusts you with her life. I can see that clearly."

"I trust her with mine."

"That doesn't mean that you won't hurt her, does it? Or she hurt you."

"Sometimes the truth hurts. Keeping the truth to oneself is often less painful to other people. Anna and I have done both to each other." Robert lifted Anna out of the chair and laid her on the couch.

"You truly believe she'll forgive you for waiting so long?"

"Anna has an enormous capacity for forgiveness. A trait I don't share." Robert confessed. "She'll understand and forgive because, if the roles had been reversed, she would have done the same thing. I'm hoping forgiveness isn't too long in coming."

"You're probably right." Alex examined the monitor lines assuring herself that they remained attached. At random, Anna's body would twitch or shift position. "In the past when we've talked about the explosion, what she could remember of it, she's never blamed you. She only blamed Faison and herself."

"Anna takes on too much blame on herself. She always has," said Robert. "As competent and confident as she is, when things go wrong, she never thinks that she's done all she could. Sometimes you have to let go of the guilt but that's hard or next to impossible."

While Robert tucked a blanket around Anna, Alex plotted what questions to ask next. Anna had zealously hoarded information about Robert and their relationship. Other than what Robin had told her, she knew very little about Anna and Robert.

"I've heard bits and pieces about your early history. How did you two meet?"

Robert laughed as he sat down in an armchair. "Anna was assigned to be my new partner much to my outrage. The first time I saw her she smiled like an imp that had just gotten away with the cookie jar. She had an insouciant air about her like nothing was ... was going to bother her because she was confident she could do the job."

"She made it very clear that I was an equal to her and not the other way around or, heaven forbid, her superior in any way. On our first mission, Anna rescued the hostage pretty much singlehandedly while I slept dead to the world. I wanted to strangle her and then kiss her senseless until dawn. She was a woman of contradiction and still is. Maybe more so."

Alex let out a throaty laugh. "She describes you the same way, nearly identical down to the killing and kissing."

"Two feisty peas in a pod - that's us," said Robert cheerfully. "But beware anyone who tried to get between us. We can be a handful."

"Love at first sight?" Alex asked.

"For an endless moment it was a hundred percent attraction like two live wires coming together. The rest of the time it's ninety percent fascination and ten percent irritation." Robert leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. "Love came fast before either of us was fully aware of it."

"It's still there."

Robert nodded. "We've had more than our fair share of ups and down but love was always there."

"You were married to other people though," said Alex.

"In my experience, loving one person doesn't make your love for another person any smaller. It can't. Love can only get bigger not smaller,” Robert explained.

"If you wanted to be together why not be together?"

"That's just it, Alex. We didn't know what we wanted,” Robert said. "As committed and in love as we were in the beginning, we ... wounded each other quite badly. I am as much to blame as Anna is. The wounds were deep and only over time were we able to deal with it each in our own way. We needed the time to reconnect as the people we had become not as who we were before."

"She kept your child from you for so long. I don't know if I could have been so forgiving were it me."

"On the surface, it's something that would be impossible to forgive, yes. For Anna, the phrase 'still waters run deep' is especially true. I'm a fairly uncomplicated person but definitely not her,” Robert said. "I admit that seeing her for the first time in '85 was jarring and so terribly timed. I've always relied on gut instinct where Anna is concerned. On that level I have faith in HER no matter what the outward stuff was telling me. Gestures and words are nice and all but to know that someone is on your side and you on theirs no matter what is said or done, when or where, that's rare. I'm not explaining this well at all."

"Oh but you are," said Alex smiling just a little. She was beginning to see the qualities that Anna saw in him.

"That's what I have with Anna. I know that she knows it, too. Hard to explain to other people who haven't felt or known the same thing. It’s instinctive,” Robert concluded. "When we fell in love again, it felt too right to be scared for the future or to have doubts. Perhaps, I should have been a little terrified. Happily ever afters don't happen often."

Heloise came into the room. "Robert, Alex, I must return to Paris. My husband is due to return from Capetown later today. How is Anna?"

"She hasn't had any seizures which was my primary concern. She's holding her own,” Alex answered. "I'm hoping this ends soon."

"Jacques has been very concerned about her," Heloise said. "Robert, may I have a word in private please?"

* * *

Heloise and Robert went into his suite. As he closed the door, Robert's face and body sagged revealing the true exhaustion he was feeling.

Heloise embraced him trying to give him the support he needed. "Anna is a remarkable woman, Robert. You must not despair."

"She'll hate me," Robert said simply. "Once she knows everything."

"Perhaps and perhaps not," soothed Heloise. "Anna may be very upset for a while but not forever. Hate is merely the opposite of love. If there is hate, there will be love."

Robert sat on the couch with his head in his hands. "Alex asked me why I had waited so long to tell her. What could I say? The truth? That I wanted to preserve the little fantasy of the happy family that we were before everything blew up. That I ... I never wanted to tarnish Anna's conviction that she's a wonderful mother. I know that that could destroy her, Heloise. I know it."

"You cannot protect her from the truth any longer." Heloise sat down beside him. "It is a burden that you have carried but as the years have passed you have despaired more and more. That is plain to me. It is time to share, Robert."

"She'll blame herself, Heloise."

"That is her right and you must not take it from her."

"What if she ... this drives a wedge between us just as we're drawing closer?"

"Then you will accept that. What more can you do? Whether you and Anna find your way to each other again, does not lessen your roles as parents and friends. You have been in each other's lives for so long. I cannot see that changing,” Heloise said. "Your family must be whole and it will heal together. You must be patient and understanding and more will come."

"I can save the city, the world, but I can't protect my own family."

"Enough with the self-hate. It does not become you." Heloise pulled his hands apart. "The pressure upon you was extreme."

“Charm doesn't go far with Anna. "That's an excuse. I should have found another way,” said Robert. "The chest ... I'll have that shipped somewhere else."

"No, Robert, give it to Anna. All of it. It will help her understand the truth. She'll have more questions than ever. And the same for your daughter and brother."

"I know you're right but-" Robert winced and grabbed at his waist. "Ooh, I left it too long."

Heloise was startled. "What's wrong?" "My colostomy bag. I have to tend to it."

"That reminds me. Jacques said that he is very proud of how you are handling your medical issues."

Robert snorted. "It's not like I have much of a choice. It's a nuisance but it has kept me alive."

"How much longer will you have to use such a contraption?"

"The doctors say the usual minimum is a year. I want to shave off a few months from that estimate."

Understanding dawned in Heloise's eyes. "For Anna."

"I'm hardly the man she fell in love with." Robert gestured to his waist. "With this thing, I'm barely half a man even on a good day."

"You can be very charming when you exert yourself."

"Charm doesn't go far with Anna."

"From what I could see, Anna wants to be with you as much as you want to be with her. Be patient, Robert. Regain your health and then your lady." Heloise asked. "May I tell Andre and Jacques about Anna's memory returning?"

Robert nodded. "They might as well prepare themselves for her return."

"Andre is uneasy about that."

"Why?"

"Robert, he tells me little about his work as Scarecrow and about Venezuela even less than that. All he will say is that it was his worst personal failure.”

"Faison is the ultimate survivor - cunning, deceitful, selfish and immoral. Unless Andre had eyes in the back of his head, two heads and four arms, I can't see how he could have prevented Faison from taking Andrew."

"I remember how terribly hard Andre and Jacques worked to find Faison. They traveled everywhere. Used money like rain water to pay informers. Used force and less than genteel means to coax the reluctant. My husband became someone I did not like very much. Anna was very important to him. Barely out of his hospital bed, he worked night and day to find Andrew," said Heloise. "When they failed after more than a year, I believe that is when Jacques' health began to decline. It will cheer him to know she is soon to be well."

"Mentally complete, yes, but, I can't predict how Anna will react emotionally. We'll all have to play it by ear. I've done all I can. It's up to her." Robert kissed Heloise on the cheek. "Get on that plane and welcome Andre home. Give my godson a big kiss from me."


	14. Being Clever

February 1992 - Location Unknown

Legs splayed, arms stretched over one leg, Anna pondered her situation while doing some yoga. By her inner reckoning she had been a prisoner for at least four days. If it was day or night she didn't know and couldn't care. Her existence was this one room and the damnable bracelet that kept her in.

Her eyes scanned the room for the umpteenth time. Though she had studied the walls she hadn't found any seams or other marks. The unnatural quietness led her to believe she was underground.

Faison had provided her a simple but complete wardrobe. She had rested and bathed and now felt closer to her usual self. To keep track of the days, Anna had adopted a strict schedule — light aerobic exercise, a shower, breakfast, book reading, yoga, a very light lunch, a tea time nap, more book reading and a late supper. Her captors by now were well aware of the routine. Faison joined her for almost all meals. Otherwise, she was left alone.

Loud voices on the other side of the door caught her attention. "Scorpio will NOT stop me this time. I have seen to that."

At the mention of Robert's name, Anna moved to the door and pressed her ear against it.

"You UNDERSTAND what you have to do, do you not?"

Anna's hopes soared at hearing the agitation in Faison's voice. The more frustrated he became, the higher the likelihood that he would make a mistake. His agitation had increased incrementally in the last two days so she gleefully assumed that his plan was falling apart.

"It is very clear to me what is wrong, Mother. You are letting your ... feelings for Holly MESS up my PLANS. How can I forgive you for that?"

"Nanny is in Port Charles?" Anna whispered. "Holly? Alive?"

"I will not HAVE it! Follow the plan, mother, can you do that for me?” "How is that possible?"

"Anna will never be happy without her daughter. I WILL have her." "I'll see you dead first,” Anna whispered.

"All right, Mother, don't cry. I know it is difficult but you have never failed me before," Faison said. "You left me little choice. I had to punish you as a reminder. You should not take it personally."

The underlying menace in his voice made the hairs on Anna's arms stand on end. She had to find a way to derail Faison's plans. Anything to buy her and Robert more time.

"You will know when it is time. Just remember the plan, Mother, stick to the plan. Good bye." There was a pause. "Mesick, it is time to begin tying up loose ends. Ensure that Frankie Taylor and his mother never return from their latest audition. And has my wedding gift been delivered?"

It was too much to take in. Anna made her way blindly to the couch absorbing all she had overheard. She sat down. To an electronic observer she seemed the picture of calm with her eyes open, her face immobile. Only her tightly clenched fists revealed her rage.

Anna dismissed Holly and Nanny from her mind. They were not important. Robin, Robert and Faison had to be her focus now. One hand gently and surreptitiously rubbed at her abdomen. In a few weeks her pregnancy would become apparent to any casual observer. Her physical symptoms would soon disable her.

She had to act and her window of time was closing fast. If she could just introduce one or two disruptive actions, then Faison's plan could be pushed further out of his control and into hers.

She steadied her breathing until determination and will sharpened her mind to an ice cold clarity. She dismissed the wife, lover, friend and mother. It was time for the operative, the black widow and maybe the killer. She could not wait for opportunities to present themselves. She had to act to set things in motion.

Anna slipped to the floor. She began her exercises once more. Her head turned at the door's opening. Faison entered. In one smooth motion, Anna raised herself from the floor. She took a seat on the couch.

"Good afternoon, Anna. I see now how you have kept yourself so beautiful." He sat down next to her.

"I like to stay fit,” Anna answered. "It's best for the mind and the body not just cosmetics."

Faison took her hand. "I hope you are now fully rested." He looked down on her open palm where several cuts oozed blood. "You've hurt your hand."

"Did I? I ... I didn't feel anything."

"They are not too deep.” Faison pressed a handkerchief into her palm. "How did you get these?"

"I must have touched something sharp. Don't trouble yourself." Faison kissed her hand. "You are never too much trouble, Anna."

Anna wet her lips before saying, "Speaking of trouble, let me go. Robert will be on your trail by now. Get far, far away from here while you can."

"Oh, no, no, my white rose, the game is afoot and I have studied well my enemy." Anna stiffened imperceptibly. "Have you?"

"Let me tell you about Robert Scorpio.” Faison began to pace. His face became very animated and his gestures just shy of manic.

Anna feigned a relaxed posture even though every nerve and muscle she possessed were stretched tight with tension and fear. She poured herself some water from the pitcher on the table by the couch.

"Robert is formidable but he is predictable. He is relentless but prone to redirection. He trusts deeply but that trust can be misplaced,” Faison exclaimed. "What have I always said is the best strategy to employ against a strong opponent?"

"The best strategy takes advantage of an enemy's strengths while exploiting the enemy's weaknesses at every level possible,” Anna replied. "What sort of cleverness have you done, Cesar?"

“Do we truly and completely know our friends, Anna? Faison smirked. "Cleverness, yes, that ... that is the right word. I must admit it has

been the most complex plan I have ever devised."

Anna's eyes were hard as diamond chips but her voice was velvety soft. "What have you done that you are so proud of? It must be masterful."

"I have created a maze of dead ends and false trails layered over the real strategy. I have greatly amused myself watching Scorpio traverse my maze like a frantic mouse after cheese." Faison lit a clove cigarette.

"Um, Robert isn't easily fooled. It must be quite a plan."

"It is and it is not yet over. The denouement is yet to come,” said Faison. "My strategy was laid out in one path then it reaches a ... a fork. One is false and one is not. Robert has taken the wrong path."

Anna cleared her throat. "It doesn't matter you know. Robert will see through your smoke and mirrors."

Faison shook his head. "No, no, Anna, Robert is sufficiently distracted by many, many things that he can barely think. He can only react. I have removed his singular strength of tactical planning. That is EXACTLY how I planned it."

"Robert isn't just one man. There's Sean, Mac, the police force, the Bureau. He can put any of them into play against you. Sean knows you and your methods too."

Faison stopped pacing and faced her. "Do we truly and completely know our friends, Anna? Any of us? I have turned his friends and family against him. He will not know whom to trust amidst all the doubts in his mind. Placed there by me. Me, Anna, no one else.”

"That's ridiculous! Every person who received one of your block letters is your enemy. Robert will exploit that to use against you. I would."

“While he tended to each of the worried parties, he has removed his eye from the actual prize. I am surprised you would think that I would reduce myself to petty revenge. If I wanted Hornsby or Eckert dead, a bullet to the head is preferable and requiring far less effort from me. Those blocks have served their diversionary purpose." Faison said. "This plan has not been without some personal sacrifices on my part. I have possibly exposed my mole in the WSB. It was necessary but such a waste."

"You have an agent in the Bureau?" Anna asked not bothering to hide her shock.

"A long-time sleeper under my control." Faison blew a long stream of smoke. "I have activated him to collect information and spread disinformation where it is strategically valuable to me. Any information from the WSB is now suspect, but Scorpio and Donely won't know that. That was step one."

Faison continued on not even noticing Anna's lack of response. "Step two involves a campaign of misdirection."

"Frankie Taylor and his mother?" Anna guessed.

"Yes and a few others like ... Holly Scorpio." Faison waited watching for a reaction.

He was disappointed. Anna's face betrayed no outward signs of distress. "Holly died in a plane crash several years ago. Where did you find a double?"

"She is very real, Anna, flesh and blood." Faison said. "The Suttons had planned a scheme for nearly a year involving several rich and ancient families in Europe. The plan was in its last stages and Holly, living in Australia, was asked to assist by her kindly Uncle Clive in the final execution of their scheme in Hong Kong."

"Why would she help them?"

"Family loyalties can be unpredictable. Perhaps, she was bored ... staring at sheep and cattle all day on the Scorpio ranch. A little harmless excitement might have been attractive. If the plan went as planned, no one would have been the wiser of her absence." Faison fell into the armchair. "The plan did not go well. The families went after Clive, Holly, Algernon, Barry and a few others. They scattered to hide in the old British colonies - India, Malaysia, Ceylon, Burma - among friends and contacts."

"Robert would have helped her. Why didn't she contact him?"

"That I do not know. One of my contacts in Ceylon connected Clive to me. We made a deal. I helped to ... extricate his family from their difficulties AND settle their disputes with the families."

“It can be useful to have a

family of stylish, capable thieves and grifters at one's disposal.

"Disputes?" Anna poured some water in a glass and gave it to Faison. She was careful to not allow their hands to touch.

"A sleight of hand theft or even a straightforward blackmail attempt would not have motivated the families into vengeance. Whatever the scheme, it had cost the families dearly." He drank. "I was able to apply some creative solutions and the disputes were settled with most of the families."

"Not all?"

Faison shook his head. "Some families have very long memories if a short reach. I laundered identities for the Suttons including one for Holly."

"You caused the plane crash then?"

"No. I provided some funds and legitimate identities only. How each of them assumed those identities was their problem,” Faison clarified. "I suppose Holly or someone in her family planned the crash."

"For helping so many the rewards had to be substantial. What did you get in return?"

"It can be useful to have a family of stylish, capable thieves and grifters at one's disposal,” answered Faison. "For example, Holly and Barry were sent to New York to retrieve an item for me. Their assignment was to ingratiate themselves with the widow Taub."

"Dominique."

"Yes, the very one. The item I desired was in her late husband's possession. It was his insurance policy against me."

Anna's brows rose at this revelation. "You and Leopold Taub were untrusting partners?"

"Business partners not blind allies. We each had something on the other."

"We wondered how you and Taub could be so loyal to the end." She raised her glass in a mock toast to him.

Faison clinked his glass against hers. "Robert discovered Holly a little earlier than I had wished. Holly has had an inconvenient attack of conscience but no matter. I have made adjustments in my plan."

"Holly is in Port Charles now?"

Once more, Faison watched her face as he replied. “Yes. She is with Robert, Robin and Nanny. All of Port Charles knows that she is alive and with Robert."

Anna was thoughtful. "Robert mourned her. He really did. They can have some closure now."

"You are not jealous or concerned that she may want him back?"

"I can't control Holly but Robert and I are committed to each other,” Anna said with conviction. "If he wants her, then he'll have to tell me to my face. We've always been honest with each other in that way. Until then, no, I see no reason for jealousy."

"I do not believe you. No one who feels as passionately as you could be so magnanimous,” Faison said. "A wife not jealous of her husband's former love? That is unnatural."

Mesick entered with the lunch trolley and began to lay out lunch. He left the door ajar slightly.

"Believe what you like," Anna shrugged. "Delude yourself in believing that your plan will work. I can't stop you."

"The final moves on this chessboard are set." Faison clapped his hands together. "It is time to remove my Queen from danger."

Anna gestured to the room. "You have me in a very safe place already. Why change now?"

"Mesick, have arrangements been completed?" Faison asked. "The Nereo is ready, sir. We can board at any time," said Mesick. Anna stood and casually walked towards the table and their lunch.

"Inform the captain to expect his cargo - Anna!" Faison shouted at Anna's retreating back.

Anna sprinted towards the open door. She had to get away before she was moved. As she sped past the door, she found herself in a small anteroom. She spied stairs leading upwards. She bound up the stairs. Her heart pounded in her ears. She slammed open the door at the top of the stairs and found herself in a rustic cabin. Mesick's heavy footsteps were close behind. Anna left the cabin at a dead run.

Outside, she came out into a copse of trees that hid the cabin from view. She saw a faint but definite path on the ground and followed it. A few meters down the path the bracelet began to emit a continuous high pitched chirp. Still she ran.

She began to recognize the environment. Not too far away she could see the outline of a tall imposing house and hear the sounds of water lapping on to the shore. She knew this place - Spoon Island.

The realization stopped her cold. Rapidly, she oriented her position.

She said under her breath, "Where ... is the ... dock? Which direction?" Her head swiveled left and right.

She whirled backwards at a sharp pain on her back. She clawed at her back trying to dislodge the tranquilizer dart. The dart did its work quickly. She collapsed unto the cold ground.


	15. Decision Made

Paris, France

Lean fingers pressed the play button on the call recorder. A conversation a few days old began to play.

"Mrs. Peel came by today. That clock that we spoke about, remember that? It's started ticking." It was his father's voice over the phone line.

"It doesn't mean anything," came his voice.

"If I know the lady, and I do, she'll find herself in Paris. She'll dig and dig until she's satisfied or stopped."

"You said it would be my decision. It's always been that way. If no one talks, then she finds nothing."

"Screw the deal! If she asks me, then, yeah, I'll tell her."

"She's gotten along fine without knowing I exist. My life is just the way I like it. Let it be, please."

The harried and angry tone in his father's voice surprised him. "I'm tired of hiding secrets in plain sight. Masking deception with illusions of reality."

"I'm not ready, Father, but I realize it is inevitable. How much time before I have to ... to make a decision?"

His father’s response came with no hesitation. “How much time? You have three days, maybe four, maybe less. Think hard, boy, think very, very hard."

"I will. I promise,” Andrew sighed. "Moving on. How did you like your care package?"

"Suits are good. I don't know about the ties." "A little color variety never hurt anyone."

"No offense, son, but your closet is tilted to the extreme monochromatic end — black on black, black and gray or black with jeans. You're not one for fashion advice."

"I can't stand pastels. Besides, black fits everywhere and anywhere. It's efficient. I like efficient and simple."

"Wait until your mother gets a look at your place." "Must you mention her in every conversation?"

"She's fully recovered from the amnesia. She's strong enough to handle it. It's time."

"Have I told you how I loathe your recent brush with mortality? It has made you overly sentimental."

His father cleared his throat. "I love you, son. I want to know that if anything happens to me that you're settled into the bosom of family."

"I don't do family well. Or people. Theoretically, I know I have a mother, a sister, an uncle. But, in practical terms, I don't know. I'm not exactly what any mother would expect. I'm a freak."

"Andrew, I've asked you not to refer to yourself like that. You're a talented, intelligent young adult with a wicked sense of humor. And not bad looking either. A little socially misinformed but time and practice will smooth out the rough bits."

"How many sixteen year olds do what I do? How many are on lifetime surveillance? I can't relate to people of my own age. And ... and older people just stare at me as if a plant was growing out of my head."

"You've lived isolated for much of your life, no one can expect you to wow society right out of the chute."

"Society can go hang themselves. They do fundraisers, go to balls and parties and talk about good causes but do they actually DO anything? No, it's all show and the height of boredom."

"When I'm out of here, we'll work on the social polishing full time. Promise. Got to go. My physiotherapist is here. Good night, son."

"Good night, Father."

Andrew pressed the stop button. He sat back and replayed the conversation mentally. A wet nose insistently rubbing against his leg brought him back to the present. His hand absently stroked the head of the mastiff pup. If one could call a dog the size of a small cart a puppy.

"Prospero, how was your nap? Ready for our walk? Go, go get your leash." Andrew stood up and stretched his lanky frame. At sixteen he was shooting up. He fully expected to be taller than his father. "I need to think and decide. Soon."

* * *

Beauchel Health Institute

Anna had finally fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep. After transferring Anna to her bed, Alex curled up on the couch for a nap herself. In his room, Robert picked up the ringing phone.

"Hello, luv. Your mum has brought me up to speed on all things Robin and Patrick. Emma is a gorgeous little thing just like her mum."

"Hi, Daddy,” Robin laughed. "Is Mom there?"

"Yeah, she's asleep. Do you want to talk to her?"

"No, it's you I want to talk to."

"I'm just hunky dory, sweetheart. Treatment is on track and everything."

"I got that, Dad. I do read your records when they send them over each week. I had a non-medical question for you."

Robert frowned, "I can hear trouble a mile away. What's up?"

"There's a package here addressed to you with no return address. Before you say anything, Uncle Mac passed it by the canine bomb squad and they didn't go crazy. It's in his office waiting for you."

"Yeah, what else?"

But me and my little girl don't believe in coincidences, do we?

"There's been a few phone calls. The caller ID says it’s a private international call. When I try to redial, it doesn't connect."

"Is there a message?"

"Nope. I mean it could just be a wrong number."

"Hmm, could be. But me and my little girl don't believe in coincidences, do we?"

"Uh, uh. The call comes every day at four in the afternoon. The few times I've answered it when I've been home there's been no response. No breathing, no noises at all, no beeps like a machine."

"Your phone isn't connected to your computer?"

"God, no. Mom rewired the entire network security protocol. A hacker would find himself or herself in a lot of trouble if they tried getting in,” Robin giggled. "Spinelli just stares at the system in awe."

"Other than the calls and the package there's been nothing else suspicious?"

"No."

"What does your gut tell you?"

"Feels more mysterious than malicious and dangerous. Maybe it's one of those automated computer setups and they don't know they've got the wrong number."

"And you don't want me telling your mother just yet I take it."

"I love Mom but I don't need her camping out in my house with 24/7 containment in place. I mean I hated the guards you always put around the house but at least they were outside. Did you know Mom put locator microchips on Emma's pram, her crib and I don't know what else."

"Your mom can be a bit overzealous. It's one of her charms."

"But, Dad, tracking your grandchild via international satellite GPS is overkill."

"I'm sure that your mother has text, email and SMS alarms in place, too." Robert thought through various options. "I'll investigate on my end. Carrier phone records and stuff like that."

"Uncle Mac wanted to bug the line but that would have taken a court order,” Robin explained. The sound of a pager beeping came over the line. "My pager is going off. Tell Mom I called. I'll try her tomorrow. Love you. Bye."

"Bye, luv." Robert jabbed the disconnect button and immediately began to dial another number. A few rings then it was picked up. "It's your father. Are you outside? It sounds noisy."

"Walking Prospero. There's a street musician here. Let me move away." Andrew ratcheted the volume on his phone. "You bellowed?”

"Question. Have you or your systems been calling your sister? Did you send a package to her place addressed to me?"

"No and no. If I did I would tell you. Is there a problem?"

"She just called me and told me of these calls. It's disturbing but not an emergency. I don't want it to become an emergency."

"Agreed. I'll investigate. It should not prove difficult." Andrew said. "Have you given that other matter some thought?" Robert asked. "Yes I have."

"And?"

"I talked with Jacques yesterday. I've come to see things differently."

"Out with it, Andrew,” Robert pressed. Behind him, his door slid open a crack. A disheveled Anna stood in the doorway listening.

"I'll be on the first train there tomorrow."

Anna tapped Robert on the shoulder. He mouthed the words 'Andrew on the line.' Anna reached up close to his ear listening avidly to the receiver. Andrew's voice was clear and audible to her.

"Jacques said this is something I have to face. It reminded me of something Tanganeva said once. Life is a great test and tests are meant to be taken head on not avoided or postponed. I hope that this turns out to be the right decision,” Andrew said. "What is the worse that can happen? She'll either accept me or she won't."

Hearing his voice triggered an elusive memory - giving birth to her son. As she listened to her son's voice for the very first time, Anna wept silent tears of joy and regret. One of her arms slid around Robert's waist and held on tight.

Before now, the last true memory she had of him was that of a tiny baby clinging to life in an incubator. His little chest barely rising and falling as his under- developed lungs sought air. Little Andrew had barely moved and he had never opened his eyes nor had he cried when he was born.

"I'll be there tomorrow,” Andrew said. "Should I bring something? A gift? What's the etiquette for this sort of thing?"

Robert switched the speakerphone on. He held the phone high between him and Anna. "There is no protocol for this. Just improvise."

"I'm not good at that,” Andrew added softly. "I hope she'll at least like me. Tolerate me I mean."

Anna eyes widened at hearing Andrew belittle himself and doubt her reaction. How could he think that she could not love him? Her heart pounded at the thought of seeing her child. His wistful tone squeezed at her heart.

Robert looked into Anna's eyes knowing how she felt. "Just come here, son. Your mother can't wait to meet you."


	16. At Rest

Beauchel Health Institute

Anna sat by the window of her suite looking out but not really seeing anything. She had collapsed from the sheer volume of memories that filled her consciousness in bits and pieces. After some rest and food, her mind was coalescing all the bits into whole cohesive streams. A scent, an image or a word set off memories at random. According to Alex this period of spontaneous recall would gradually taper off as her mind learned to retain all her new memories.

She glanced at Alex sleeping on the couch. She should follow her twin's example but she was too excited to sleep. Her son was coming to see her. She would be able to touch him, listen to his voice, look at his face until the fierce hunger inside of her was sated. She vowed to make him see and feel her love. He would never have cause to doubt her feelings for him.

On her lap lay the photo album. After dinner, Robert had shown her which pictures had a concealed picture underneath. She laid out all five of Andrew's shots. In none of them was Andrew caught smiling. His eyes did not seem sad only serious and, on rare occasions, she swore there was a glint of mischief behind the seriousness. His hairstyle kept changing from one picture to the next — a crew cut, short and wavy, anime-inspired long hair with slashing bangs, medium length with sweeping sides, shaggy but trim.

"He's definitely Robert's son," she mused. "But so serious. I want to see you smile."

She and Alex had studied each picture debating every little feature while bombarding Robert with questions. Robert had deflected many questions saying that if he answered them what would she be left to talk to Andrew about. That made some sense and Robert escaped to his room and a well-earned sleep.

Thinking of Robert brought her thoughts back to the past. With thoughts of Robert inevitably came thoughts of another man - Cesar Faison.

* * *

__

February 1992 Somewhere on board the yacht _Nereo_

Heat. On her face. It was the initial waking sensation she experienced. The second was the now familiar sense of nausea. Anna opened her eyes. Plainly, she was no longer in the cabin on Spoon Island. She was in a stateroom luxuriously equipped but not tastelessly opulent. She was lying on a chaise lounge that was so comfortable she had little desire to move. However, the rolling motion of the boat was an encouraging accompaniment to her nausea. She had to find the lavatory and quickly.

Gingerly she sat up. Mercifully, the room did not sway or spun about. At first glance there were a few closed doors any of which could be the lavatory. She stood up on shaky legs. Holding to the wall and furniture she checked each door before finally finding her true destination.

Some time later she lay on the chaise. Surprisingly, despite her escape attempt, she was not chained or restrained. The two portholes showed that they were at sea. She could see no land visible. Her location was anybody's guess. By the height of the sun, Anna judged that it was midday. Of Faison and Mesick there were no sign. Occasionally, she heard commands given by different voices on the deck followed by shuffling footsteps. The stateroom door was locked physically and with an electronic keypad. Her ankle bracelet was ever present much to her dismay.

Her ears picked up the unmistakable sounds of helicopter blades whirring preparing to take off. She rushed to the portholes to try to see what she could. In one porthole, she spotted the rotating blades. After a few minutes the helicopter lifted into the air. She couldn't see if there were any passengers.

The stateroom door opened behind her. She turned to see Faison coming in. She recognized his mood instantly. His clothes were in disarray. His hair was unkempt as if he had spent most of the night running his hands through them. His face was pale and haggard, eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot.

"Well, Anna, we are well away from Port Charles." Faison poured himself a large shot of brandy. "Good riddance!"

"What's wrong? Something's happened hasn't it?"

He downed his brandy in one swallow. "We will be two people less on this voyage than I had planned."

"Mr. Mesick not coming with us?"

"He has other tasks to accomplish on my behalf," Faison approached her. He invaded her personal space. "Your DAUGHTER proved ... a wildly uncooperative ... HELLION! And ... and my mother has died because of Scorpio and her PRECIOUS Holly."

As close as he was, Anna turned away from the smell of brandy on his breath. She wanted to crow about Robin's escape but in his present mood doing so would only irritate him more. Better to keep the topic away from her daughter. "Nanny's dead?"

"We are better off without them." Faison held her forearms forcing her to look at him. "I have all I need right here. With time and patience, I know I can make you happy."

Anna tried to move away but his grip was firm. She would have bruises on her arms by tomorrow. His closeness combined with the scent of alcohol was making her dizzy. "We should sit down. You're obviously distraught and -"

"I am finally without distraction, Anna. Scorpio has taken the last piece of bait. He will be running in circles." Faison caressed her cheek. "While you and I will be far, far away."

"Bad bait?" Anna tried to focus on his face while fighting her growing nausea. She took deep cleansing breaths as quietly as she could. She could feel her face flush.

"I had a ... container made to transport dear Robin to our final location. The container was scheduled to be transferred multiple times in transit. Robert now has the transport schedule and I strongly believe that he will be visiting each port on the list," said Faison. "A wild chase after a red herring. So much for the intrepid Robert Scorpio!"

Her response died in her throat as the bitter taste of bile and vomit rose within her. She wrenched herself from his hold and ran for the lavatory. Kneeling by the bowl, stomach heaving, Anna cursed her timing and weakness. Finished, she sat on the floor unmoving. Faison stood just outside the lavatory doorway. He had witnessed everything. She kept her eyes on his shoes as tears of anger and frustration welled in her eyes.

Faison held out a small towel towards her. "Is there something you want to tell me, Anna?"

She took the towel but did not meet his eyes. Silently, she rose and washed her face. The mirror reflected both their faces as she calmly combed her hair and made herself presentable again all the while avoiding eye contact. She returned to the stateroom and poured herself some water at the bar. Faison followed her equally silent.

After several sips, Anna said. "Why ask me the question when you know the answer already."

"I have noticed that you have been sleeping more, eating more but I never thought that it may be due to a pregnancy. I do not believe it." Faison ushered her to sit in couch.

"Believe it," Anna sat down. "Give it two or three weeks and you'll see it for yourself."

"How ... how many months?" asked Faison. "My due date is in mid June."

"So soon?! That's only four months away." Faison seemed to just then become aware of his appearance. He tried to tidy his hair and straighten his clothes.

"This ... this changes everything. EVERYTHING!" He bounced around the room while thinking out loud. "I must order ... order better provisions and proper clothes for your comfort." He paused in pouring a celebratory shot of brandy then stoppered the decanter. "Ah, you refused wine at every meal. Yet another clue I somehow missed. I will not drink or smoke around you, Anna. No one on the ship will."

Anna watched Faison ramble on with mounting distress. She would be even more closely watched now. Physical escape was no longer an option. If her second pregnancy followed the pattern of the first, then she could predict a decline in mental clarity as her body and mind prepared for the baby. She had to think of another way. If what Faison had said about Robert setting off on the wrong trail was true, then contacting him would be a mistake. The WSB could no longer be trusted. Who could she trust?

"June is so close. I will change one of the bedrooms to be a nursery until we can settle somewhere permanently. I must find the perfect place for our home." The thought seemed to inspire another line of thinking in him. "I had, of course, thought that eventually we would have at least one of our own, but this ... this is beyond my dreams. Do you know how happy you have made me, do you?"

"I can see how happy you are," Anna replied flatly. She was vaguely aware of Faison continuing on making his plans while her thoughts returned to Robert. Since Faison had until now not known about her condition, she was certain that Robert had not revealed it to anyone back home. She knew with utter certainty that it was the reason driving him to search for her on his own. He would leave Robin with Mac and Sean. Robin would be unhappy but safe. It's what she would have done if the situation had been reversed. Mentally, she removed Sean and Mac from her potential contact points. It was better that they remained in ignorance for Robin's sake.

"Our child will not have the life we had. He or she will not have to beg for a ... a candy bar or work so hard for a mere pittance of a wage. Our child will have parents to love it, to care for it, to buy nice clothes. Our child won't need to feel grateful for second hand clothing from well-meaning employers and friends. And education, our child will have that in plenty. How many times, Anna, did we have to prove our equality to those with more money and education? We always had to be smarter, work harder, to want to win more than anyone else. We showed them."

"Yes, Faison," said Anna absently. An image of a wedding gift — a miniature train caboose with a small 'Just Married' sign and an exquisitely unique hand-blown Murano vase — flashed in her mind. In that moment she knew who to contact. An old friend who had the resources and knowledge to help her. She knew just the message to send. Something reeking of normalcy and innocence. Now she only had to find the opportunity to make contact.

"Our child will have discipline. That is important, too. Without discipline and control, free will can become destructive," said Faison.

Anna's looked down on her palms. Seeing the red welts on her palm just beginning to heal gave her an inspired idea. She stood up and move to the chaise lounge. With deliberate slowness she laid down as if her body could no longer support her.

"Anna, are you ill again?" Faison asked rushing to her side. "I'm tired. I have a headache from that tranquilizer."

"The tranquilizer! We shouldn't have used that if I had only known. Do you think it will harm the child?"

"When I had Robin, I was very young. I can't say that now." Anna looked at Faison directly willing him to believe her. "This is a high risk pregnancy. That's why Robert and I had not told anyone. There IS a chance I could lose it."

Faison was horrified. "No! No! That cannot ... must not happen."

"I've miscarried before. I can again. My doctor couldn't give me any guarantees." "How do you feel?"

"I feel all right for now. My doctor was monitoring my health at least once a week. I've missed several check ups," said Anna. "I hope the baby is all right with everything that has happened. I've stopped taking medication. I'm worried about effects on the baby from the drugs you gave me."

"We need to do something. What do we do? Tell me and it will be done." "I need to see a doctor as soon as possible. Can you arrange that?"

Faison was stricken caught between a desire for anonymity and Anna's welfare. "It will be difficult but I will make sure you see a doctor."

"My doctor recommended an ultrasound to detect any early problems in cases like mine." Anna knew that Faison could readily get a doctor to come aboard but she needed to get off the boat. It was the only way her plan could work. As far as she knew, ultrasound testing was done in an office or hospital. Either of those two locations would be ideal for her plan. She had to force Faison to return to land even for only a short time. "I'll also need medicine and neonatal vitamins. I think I had an iron deficiency with Robin so I need to be checked for that as well."

"All right," Faced with this litany of essentials, Faison felt shell-shocked. "Why don't you go to your cabin and rest? You will be more comfortable there I'm sure. While you rest, I will think on what arrangements are needed. Maybe a clinic or small hospital will be sufficient."

"Thank you, Cesar." Anna smiled gratefully. "Can we eat first? Eating for two you know."

The request galvanized Faison into action. He strode to the door. "Just wait. I will have a proper meal prepared and we shall eat together." He fairly flew up the stairs to the main deck.

* * *

Beauchel Health Institute

Carefully, Anna tucked the pictures back into the album and shut it. She put the album on the table. Pulling her robe closer about her, she left her suite and entered Robert's room.

She sat on the right side of the bed and watched him sleeping. Robert slept on his back and not on his side as he normally favored. She supposed that was dictated by his colostomy bag's location more than anything else. She had noticed his increasing tiredness after dinner. Despite his stubborn bravado, Robert was still far from well.

She sometimes had nightmares about Robert not coming out of his coma. She would wake up sweating and had to reassure herself that he was fine. Seeing him asleep, getting stronger little by little each day, pushed those nightmares further and further away.

After a few minutes, Robert began to stir. He opened his eyes. Robert blinked a few times before asking, "Couldn't sleep?" He didn't wait for a reply before pulling the blanket aside in invitation.

Anna slipped into the bed careful not to jostle Robert too much. Robert pulled up the blanket to cover both of them. With a satisfied sigh, she laid her head in the crook of his shoulder and relaxed for the first time all day. Robert dropped a kiss on the top of her head before he drifted back to sleep.


	17. You and Me

March 1992 in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York

The doctor's waiting room was like any other - neutral colors, industrial seating in pleasing colors, artificial plants and a wide variety of out of date magazines. Anna idly flipped through one but not seeing the words or pictures. It was just something to occupy her hands with.

"If I could only occupy my mind," Anna said softly under her breath.

"What was that, darling?" asked Faison in a voice pitched to be heard and sufficiently affectionate as to leave no doubt of his relationship to her. "Would you like more water? I'll get you another cup."

"No. I don't like to wait. That's all,” Anna replied in a neutral tone.

Faison smiled at her and said to some of the others around them. "Nerves. It's our first child."

As advice and compliments came their way, Anna managed a weak smile. On her lap covered by a magazine, her hand curled into a tight fist. Her feet pressed down on the floor rigid with tension. Her breath she expelled with calculated control.

The nurse called out "Martin and Anna Petrie?"

"That's us! Here we are!" Faison called out. Being the model husband, he helped Anna to her feet.

* * *

Anna lay on the examination room bed as still as she could. It was a marked contrast to Faison who fidgeted and paced around her.

"Everything will be fine. I'm sure of it." Faison said. "We have the ... the neonatal vitamins and meal supplements. And, shoes, yes, you should have more comfortable shoes and looser clothes. I saw some shops on the way here from the dock. We could go shopping after this. Would you like that?"

"Hmm, yes, that would be nice. Thank you,” Anna said.

Though outwardly composed, Anna was in a frenzy of mental activity. Passing by the front desk and the doctor's office, she had seen two fax machines. Two potential ways she could send a message out. But how to do it without Faison noticing? While she planned, she repeated again and again the number she intended to call. She would only have a few minutes to execute the plan. Any delay could cost her dearly.

The doctor came in and reviewed Anna's case history with her. Dutifully and very convincingly, she gave the story as devised by Faison. As she was examined by the doctor, Faison studied every procedure and listened to every instruction. He saw too much. He heard too much. He hovered too closely. He held her hand too tightly.

Anna shut her eyes shut tight as if the lights were too bright. Really it was to hide the truth that her eyes could not help but express and what her heart and mind repeated over and over - _It should be Robert here with me._

As the doctor left momentarily, she focused her mind on her plan once more. She had to do something or she would go mad.

The nurse came in to draw a blood sample. As she was preparing Anna's arm, Faison's mobile rang. He excused herself.

Anna said casually. "The Hamptons are a bit cool this year."

"Yes, it is. We just had a bad storm the other day, too." The nurse said making small talk.

"Martin wants to leave immediately after this appointment. Somewhere warmer you know." Anna smiled. "I think it's just a ruse so he can drive the boat faster once in international waters."

The nurse laughed. "All the men are like that. Where are you headed? A long cruise?"

"Yes. To the Caribbean,” Anna informed the nurse. "Martin likes to do a straight course with the fewest landfalls. I was wondering if I could fax my brother a quick note with your machine. Just to let him know the baby is okay. He's been worried. We don't have a fax on our boat."

"Certainly. I would be happy to do that for you." The nurse fished out a piece of paper and pen from her pocket. "Just put down the number, the name and the message."

Anna hurriedly scribbled the number she had memorized and a short message. She handed it back to the nurse who read it out loud. "Dr. Sean Donely. Uncle Sean baby is good. Love A." The nurse added. "A doctor. I can see why he would be concerned. I'll get this out as soon as I finish here."

"Thank you so much." Anna laid back on the exam table. She closed her eyes to stop tears of relief from falling. "My ... Martin has problems with my brother. They just don't get along. And Martin ... he l-l-loves me so much that I don't want to hurt him."

"I understand. It will be our secret." The nurse assured her.

The nurse left and Anna, for the first time in weeks, relaxed every tense muscle in her body. She was alone and bone tired but elated. Sending the message was the first positive thing to have happened since her kidnapping. If the fax went through it would mean that someone could find her. It meant hope.

Five minutes later, as if released from some terrible burden, Faison's steps were lively as he returned to the room and resumed pacing. "The baby is fine and you are fine. That's wonderful. But we must be more careful. I promise you, Anna, that you will receive the best of care despite our situation."

Arm over her eyes, Anna said in a weary voice. "I never doubted you would, Cesar. Thank you. With ... with all my heart. You sound as if you have received good news?"

"At this point, everything is good news, beloved." Faison said. "No one is the wiser as to our movements. The lauded Commissioner Scorpio is losing the game. And, my agent in the WSB is proving very useful."

Before Anna could further question Faison, the doctor bustled in. "I'm so sorry for leaving earlier. I have a patient that was just admitted to the hospital. Early delivery."

"That is quite all right,” Faison said dripping with charm.

"I've reviewed your case in more detail, Anna. Because this is a high risk pregnancy, I prefer to do a sonogram as early as possible to rule out problems like an ectopic pregnancy."

"What is that?" asked Faison.

"I thought this was your second child,” said the doctor confused.

"Anna had a child when she was younger with someone else. This is OUR first child together,” Faison explained helpfully not letting Anna respond in any way.

"I see,” The doctor said. "Well, an ectopic pregnancy is one that exists outside of the uterus, the womb. For example, the egg was fertilized but implanted itself in the fallopian tubes. Or the cervix or the abdomen. An ectopic pregnancy would be quite serious."

"How serious?"

"The fetus would not develop properly due to lack of space and proper nutrition. It could endanger the mother's health if not detected and ... and terminated in time." The doctor's voice gentled at the last phrase. She was sensing a growing anxiety in the new father and she did her best to cushion the meaning of her words. The doctor glanced at Anna. She seemed quite tired to her professional eyes.

"That cannot happen. What can we do?"

"I don't wish to imply that it HAS occurred, Martin, not at all. I would like to do a sonogram now to confirm that we do not have an ectopic case. Would you like me to proceed?"

Anna and Faison answered at the same time with a quiet "No" and with a firm "Yes."

"Isn't it too early? I didn't have my sonogram before twenty-two weeks before." Anna said before Faison could say anything. A sonogram, the first glimpse of her baby, was something she could not bear to share with anyone but Robert. "We don't have to do one now, do we?"

"No, we don't have to but you are at seventeen weeks. We can at least rule out an abnormal pregnancy." The doctor smiled reassuringly. "We might even be able to tell the gender."

Anna bit her lower lip to stifle her protests. She turned away unable to look at anyone else.

Too enamored with possibilities, Faison did not see Anna's reaction. "We can tell that? Whether it is a boy or a girl?"

"It may be possible based on the way the baby is positioned. But that's not the primary reason. It's just an added benefit,” The doctor answered. "It is critical that we know if it is a normal development or not."

Faison stood by the foot of the examination table. Casually, he brushed a hand against Anna's left leg stopping when his fingers encountered the explosive bracelet decoratively wrapped around her ankle. To the doctor, it would have seemed a very loving gesture. Appearances could be so deceiving. "We would like to have this procedure, won't we, Anna? For the baby's health?"

Not trusting what would come out of her mouth, Anna could only nod.

"Will it take long?" Faison asked. "I'd like to take my wife back to our boat where she can rest."

"We can start right now."

Faison moved aside to allow the doctor to tend to Anna. Anna cleared her throat loudly and rubbed at her throat.

"Are you thirsty?" asked Faison.

Anna swallowed and wet her lips before answering. "Faint. Water. Juice."

"That might be from the blood draw. You're rather pale. I'll have a nurse bring you some juice and water." The doctor used the intercom to ask for some refreshments. "Martin, may I see you outside?"

As the nurse came in, the doctor ushered Faison outside for a private conversation. Anna laid back with eyes closed uncaring and feeling very much defeated.

"I've sent the message," The nurse said in a near whisper.

Anna's eyes snapped wide open. Tiredness was forgotten. "You did?"

The nurse smiled and nodded. "I even got a return fax. Here."

Anna hungrily read the fax. It said in a clear hand: _Take care sis. Love GA Sean._

"You don't know how much this means to me," Anna said gripping the nurse's arm. "Thank you." She made a show of drinking the juice and grinned. "Best medicine in the world."

The nurse left her alone. Anna sat up on the table. She fingered the fax assured by its solidity that she was not hallucinating. She reread the letter then resolutely tore the fax into the tiniest pieces that her shaking hands would allow. She stretched her arm and was able to reach the waste basket. She opened her fist and watched the shreds drop piece by piece into the basket.

She gulped down the rest of the orange juice enjoying a moment's ease and true pleasure. She could feel strength returning to her body and mind. Growing hope chased away her pessimistic thoughts and dispirited emotions.

She looked down at her belly which protruded just enough to be noticeable. "We can do this ... just a little bit longer. You and me."

Faison and the doctor returned. Faison's eyes lit up to see her sitting up. "You must be feeling better."

"I am,” Anna said with a wry smile.

"You may be anemic during your pregnancy. I'm prescribing some extra supplements for you,” The doctor said. "As I told your husband, I am concerned about signs of exhaustion and stress. It's not critical but you do need to watch things better."

"Don't worry, doctor," Faison beamed. "I will take even better care of my lovely Anna. I won't leave her side."

The doctor resumed preparing the sonogram machine. Faison took his position beside her holding one of her hands and watching everything the doctor did with unnerving intensity. He fairly vibrated with suppressed excitement.

Even as the doctor was spreading gel on her exposed belly, Anna began to withdraw into her mind. She imagined an alternative reality where Robert held her hand and watched over her. His touch comforted her so much. It was the only way she could mask her anger and bitter disappointment.

Sooner than she anticipated, an image began to form on the sonogram display. Despite herself, Anna opened her eyes eager to see her baby. Once opened, her imagined reality evaporated. Her anger increased and the bile in her stomach rose up her throat at hearing the doctor's announcement.

"It's a boy!"

Anna sat fully upright. The sonogram wand slid off her body as she bolted off the bed. She reached the wastebasket in enough time to vomit into it.

Faison was at her side instantly. "What's wrong, Anna?" He handed her a tissue.

She wiped her mouth with the tissue. "The ... juice. Too much." She croaked out. Anna stood up and returned to the table on shaky legs. "I'll be all right."

* * *

Anna rested a hand in the crook of Faison's arm as they strolled down Main Street. It was chilly but the brisk air invigorated her all the same.

"We should return to the boat, Anna. This cold cannot be good for you," Faison said.

"I need the exercise."

"You fainted and vomited. It is rest you require."

"Morning sickness,” Anna said looking at everything except at the man beside her. "All pregnant women faint. I AM eating and functioning for two."

"Let's just rest ... for a little while."

Anna stopped in the window of a quaint antique store. She pointed at something in the window. "Can I get that, Cesar? That medium sized wooden chest."

Faison peered at the object. "Why?"

Anna smiled at him. "So I can put some baby things inside. Keepsakes to remember this time by. Babies grow up very quickly."

"Oh, well, of course," Faison agreed. "Any mother would like to have those things."

"Or a father," Anna added entering the store.

They made their purchase and sent it ahead of them to the _Nereo_. They continued to stroll darting in and out of Sag Harbor's discreetly pricey stores.

* * *

That night Anna went to her bedroom early. It had been an eventful day and even Faison seemed drained of energy. Anna placed the antique chest on her bed. Next to it she placed a large bag full of the day's purchases.

As she laid the items out on the bed, she looked back at her day. She had cajoled and charmed Faison for each one. He had bought everything she asked for except for a journal. He didn't trust her with paper and pen. He had gone so far as to strip all paper wrappings from her purchases before allowing her to bring it into her room.

Whatever she had to do, it was worth it. She had named it the Baby Box and successfully secured Faison's solemn promise to make sure the baby got the gift and kept it intact for years to come. She ran a hand across the objects laying on her bed. Most of them she knew would have been items that Robert would have bought himself for their baby boy.

"I'm doing the shopping for both of us, love," Anna said softly as she unfurled a blue baby blanket with tiny stars and zooming spaceships on it. It was soft and warm. "It's not a lot, baby, but it's for you from your daddy."

"About your daddy? Oh, he made me laugh. Even when I was furious, Robert would catch me off-guard and make me laugh." Anna continued a running commentary as she examined each of her various purchases. "I miss laughing. I miss him. I hope you get his smile. I'd like that."

"I read somewhere that ... that laughter was good for the body. I'll laugh more. I promise. Wouldn't want you to become a gloomy puss, would we?"

Anna twirled a khaki and blue baseball cap in her hand. "It's a bit big for you yet but I expect you'll fit into it eventually."

She toyed with a pair of tiny mittens and booties. "These are to keep you warm and stop you nibbling at your fingers. Robin, your big sister, she was a nibbler that one. Fingers AND toes. I'm not looking forward to the teething stage."

She folded the baby blanket and placed it inside the chest. Next, came the cap, the clothing and some toys. Carefully, she slipped a plain envelope inside laid flat on the side. It was labeled "Sonogram 3/1992." Anna placed the chest on her nightstand.

Anna yawned and stretched her arms out. "We leave tomorrow I'm told. When this will end, I don't know but, everything ends, some time."

She settled into the bed on her side spooned against a long pillow. "Better days will come. Hope is just around the corner, baby. You'll see."


	18. Papa's Advice

Paris, France

An overnight case and a backpack stood by the bookcase with a black leather overcoat draped over the case. In one corner of the spacious living room, lights blazed in the office alcove. Flat-screened monitors displayed graphs of data in waves, graphs and scrolling lines of data. A high tech whiteboard detailed a flow chart labelled with mathematical symbols and notation in a neat script. Every now and then Andrew would look away from his monitor and study the whiteboard intensely. A large-faced digital clock sat atop the whiteboard. It showed the time as ten thirty in the evening.

Andrew stretched his arms and body outwards. He flexed his shoulders loosening the tension of the last two intense hours. The tea pot's whistle echoed down the corridor. Prospero lifted his massive head from the couch and looked around the room. The whistle reminded Andrew of his upcoming appointment.

"Go back to sleep, Pros. You're going to need your energy to play with Marcel tomorrow,” Andrew said on his way to the kitchen.

He turned the kettle off and prepared his tea. On the counter he prepared two panini sandwiches. One he put on a plate and the other he wrapped in plastic along with an energy bar. He poured a tall glass of Pellegrino and added a slice of lemon. Andrew sat down on a stool and began eating.

As he ate, he ran through his plan. It wasn't often he escaped his surveillance. Not that he couldn't lose them but he rarely bothered. After all, they were mere observers just doing their job. He usually ignored their presence completely. If his plan was executed as he intended, they would never know that he had left his flat even less the country. His eye fell on the wrapped sandwich.

A reminder came to mind : _Always be prepared for fight or flight. Then you can never be caught by surprise._

* * *

2001 Mauritius

"I'm just going to the Postal Museum to see the new issue stamps with Salim. I'm not going around the world." Andrew sat on his bed watching his Papa examine his backpack and its contents.

"You could be going to the grocery store and I would still say the same. Always be prepared for fight or flight. Then you can never be caught by surprise. Freedom is a commodity and a weapon." Faison unzipped the inner lining and made sure that it contained identity papers, credit cards, cash, some laminated pictures and a tiny but valuable key. From his pocket he removed two protein bars and dropped them into the liner before zipping it closed. "Food, money, identity. Never be without those, Andrew. Salim is very good. Ultimately, -"

"You must rely on your-yourself," Andrew finished the oft-repeated saying.

"And what else?" Faison prodded.

"Trust no one. Be sk-skep-skeptical of those you do know."

"And?"

Andrew rolled his eyes upward. "No one else has your interests at heart. Only you do."

"Remember those bad men that tried to take me away? Do you remember how well you played our game?"

Andrew grinned at the memory. "I followed your instructions to the letter. We fooled them just like you planned."

Faison returned the grin. "You were so brave and resourceful."

"And you found me again just like you promised, Papa." Andrew jumped off the bed and gave his Papa a spontaneous hug.

"I will always keep my promises to you. Never forget that." Faison returned his son's hug. Andrew at nine was all arms and legs like a newborn colt. His head came to Faison's chest now. "Let's get you a haircut. Maybe tomorrow."

"Another one?" whined Andrew.

"Summer is coming. You will feel cooler with much of this taken off," Faison stroked Andrew's silky blond hair. It grew so fast and so thick. "If you behave at the barbershop, we will get some of those ices you like so much."

Andrew sensing the potential for more treats went into negotiation mode. "And a pizza at Pizza Hut on the wharf."

Faison sighed dramatically. "My son, we live in one of the most culturally diverse places on the planet yet your favorite food is pizza."

"But you NEVER let me have pizza." Andrew whined.

"It is a gastronomic abomination." Faison countered. "Although I should not be surprised."

"I'll get a haircut AND I'll finish reading that philosophy book you gave me. It's not The Art of War but I ought to be able to finish it today," countered Andrew. "If I do ALL that, then may I AT LEAST order a takeout pizza."

Faison surrendered. "Fine. However, I refuse to even smell that ... that thing. You need to eat it outside on the patio." Faison bent down and kissed Andrew on the cheek. "I'm late for work. I will see you at dinner."

* * *

Paris, France

The sound of tinkling bells carrying throughout the flat's speakers alerted Andrew to the start of his plan. He returned to the living room office wrapped sandwich in hand. The sandwich he secured in his backpack. As expected, Prospero was alert and standing at attention by the bookcase that disguised the flat's secret entrance from the Paris tunnels. Prospero knew his job.

Andrew began the systematic shutdown of his personal systems. He left the general use computers turned on. Uncle Andre was home and he used the computers frequently. Andrew's fingers danced deftly over one console that could have rivaled a spaceship's cockpit in sophistication. The three screens attached displayed telecom logs and parcel delivery logs. With one swipe of his hand, the screens blinked off and all traces of his ever accessing the data was gone. A few commands copied the pertinent data to a flash drive that he pocketed.

"It looks like a trip to Port Charles is in my future," murmured Andrew.

He took one last look at his console. He took out his iPhone and remotely triggered the console rack to full security mode. To anyone accessing his system from the office or outside world, his computer system would appear to be a typical computer with games, bland emails and a hard drive full of music and video files. Just what was expected of a sixteen year old boy.

Andrew turned off many of the bright lights leaving the room dimly lit by a lamp or two. Per his custom, he drew the tall curtains closed before drawing another set of room darkening drapes cover the curtains. Anyone peeking into his flat would have seen the dimmed lights and drawn curtains and deduced that he was done for the night.

Andrew glanced at the bookcase's row of pictures. The pictures were not of anyone he knew like family or friends. They were random shots he took as part of his hobby — scenic landscapes, postcard sunsets, striking people and whatever else that took his fancy. He looked at each one straightening one or two. He picked up a shot of a railway tunnel entrance under a snow packed mountain. He easily pried the back of the frame off. A passport, a student identity card and a credit card fell neatly into his ready hands. He reviewed the contents.

"Albert Marchand, art student," said Andrew. He quickly memorized Albert's address located on the other side of Paris. He fitted all of it into a slim travel wallet which he slipped into the leather overcoat's inner pocket. His real passport, cards and extra cash were already safely tucked into a paperback book lying in the false bottom of his backpack.

Near the bookcase, Prospero began to whine. He lowered his nose to the floor and sniffed. The whining stopped. With a large paw, Prospero pressed down on a lever and the bookcase quietly slid aside revealing a heavy door. There were two raps followed by a muffled voice. Prospero rose on his hind legs and tipped another lever high on the wall to open the massive door.

Flashlight in hand, Giles Neuhaus came carrying a duffel bag. "Good evening, Andrew. Are you prepared?"

Giles petted Prospero fondly. An offered chew treat for a job well done was quickly dispatched by the puppy. "What a good dog!"

"Just about. You're spoiling him." Andrew put the picture frame in the exact same place as before.

"No less than you do." Giles put his case on the trestle table situated in front of the alcove housing the office.

"Uncle Andre enjoying the comforts of home and hearth? Has he brought back anything of interest?"

Giles began to remove file folders, computer disks and other documents from his case. "He is not sure. He wants a fresh set of eyes on them. Yours and mine. I plan to enter them all into the computers tonight. He will be here to review tomorrow evening after he reports to the clinic."

"My shadows have gone to sleep as well," observed Andrew. "After all my late nights, they should be glad of the early bedtime."

"I believe I shall take Prospero out for his walk very early tomorrow. They will be sleepy and not much attention." Giles pulled out dark jeans, pullover hooded jacket and a Sag Harbor baseball cap identical to one Andrew possessed and wore often. He held out a note to Andrew. "Heloise has a note for you."

Andrew accepted it with a nod. "I shall communicate in the usual way."

"Andre wants you to take this with you." Giles brandished a taser. "It's all hard plastic construction and will pass the usual security scanners. As a precaution, he says."

"He never gives up," Andrew sighed. "I don't like carrying weapons. And I hardly need a gun to take care of anyone who gets too close. Tell my thoughtful uncle thank you but no thank you."

He put on his overcoat. He bade farewell to Prospero, picked up his case and backpack, grabbed a flashlight and left. As he descended down the stairs to the underground tunnels, Andrew concentrated on the tunnel map in his head. Even after three years he could still get lost down here. After twenty-five minutes he stepped out of the wardrobe and into the St. Germain Abbey bookstore's back room. He tinkled the bells in a specific pattern that Giles would interpret as a successful trip completed.

He climbed the backstairs to the small apartment kept for guests on the third floor of the bookstore building. He stripped to his underwear and fell asleep right away.

* * *

At four o'clock in the morning, he woke, showered and ate his sandwich for breakfast. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. Over dark jeans, he wore a white dress shirt under a quirky colorful vest that would advertise a creative bohemian to any passers-by. He ruffled his hair into artful disarray then topped it with a jaunty gray beret with red trim. Black trainers completed the ensemble. He would change again once he arrived in Bern.

By five-fifteen, he was starting up the battered racing green Mini Cooper in the bookshop's garage. He gunned the engine and savored the powerful growl of the finely tuned six cylinder engine. On the outside, the car was a shabby memory of a once proud car but under the hood beat the heart of a Grand Prix racer. He opened the garage door and drove out into the early morning bustle of Paris. Andrew drove in a random pattern until he was assured that no one was following him.

Shortly, he was at the train station with a second class ticket on the six-thirty high speed train to Switzerland. He would be in Bern a little before noon. As he entered the sleeping compartment, he was gratified to see that no one shared it with him. He had far too much on his mind. Being spared having to be polite or provide inane small talk to a fellow passenger was a cosmic blessing.

He dialed a number on his phone and when it was answered he pressed a series of digits on the keypad. It was his digital "I'm ok" signal to home base. Giles would pass the message along to Andre and Jacques. He sent a coded text message to his father's mobile phone indicating his expected arrival time.

He drew the curtains closed, put his backpack next to him and fell asleep.


	19. Devane Women

2009 December at the Beauchel Institute

Anna was in a cocoon of warmth. Feather light touches on her skin and whispered words tantalized her senses. There it was again. The touch followed by a voice describing the most sensual images — skinny dipping in a warm ocean, walks in the moonlight, racing around the curves of Portofino on a fast scooter, being tickled on the nose by rose petals, tramping through a vineyard just before harvest when the air was redolent with the smell of earth and ripe grapes.

She opened her eyes to see Robert watching her. "Good morning. You look like the canary who got the worm."

"Did you like your wake-up notice?" Robert traced a lazy finger down her throat.

Anna propped herself on her elbow facing Robert who was also propped on his elbow. "I could get spoiled."

"Not possible,” Robert said.

"I'll remember to return the favor someday." Anna caressed Robert's jaw line. "Soon."

Robert's leg twined with hers under the blanket. "I'll look forward to it and a few other things, too."

"Are you challenging my ingenuity, Robert?" asked Anna as her toe followed the line of Robert's calf.

"I think this could prove a key motivating element in my therapy." Robert's hand made stealthy progress under the blanket until his hand travelled upwards to her hip.

"This may require repeat applications you understand?"

"Repeat away I say," Robert's leg insinuated itself between her legs. "Robert," she warned. "You're not supposed to-"

"Shhhh, I can't do it properly yet but halfway is manageable." Robert leaned in closer. As his thigh glided upwards, his hand went in the opposite direction. Her night gown was hiking ever higher. "I've found myself with a lot of time for reading. I've come to a startling realization."

Anna replied a little breathlessly while toying with one of Robert's pajama buttons, "And what would that be?"

"That there were many things lacking in our marriage." Her finger paused in mid-unbuttoning. "What? In bed?"

"In and out ... of bed. I've become a firm believer in quality over quantity." Robert said just as his thigh reached the apex of her legs. "If you add up the time, both times, we were married for only a short time. And, there was the child in the house, too."

"I seem to remember no lack in inappropriate moments and places where we indulged your lascivious desires. Has your memory gone?"

"I commend you highly for your wifely attentions.” Robert kissed her neck. "I'd like to cater to your desires for a change. Would you like me to do that now?"

Robert moved his thigh grazing her flesh where she was most vulnerable. Anna's eyes widened and her mouth formed a little 'O' of delight as she realized Robert's undeniably adult intentions.

"Answer now or hold your peace for a few more months," Robert said.

"Yes, I do." The words were drawn out of her like a bow over violin strings. Her legs bent and locked around his. His hand caressed her leg from calf to knee. Her eyes closed shut. "You ... you always please me."

"Pleasure should be like play." He kissed her lips. "Play should be pleasurable." Another kiss, longer and wetter, followed. His hand made its unhurried way upwards past her derriere, hips and higher still.

"The more creative, the better the experience." He watched her face enjoying the play of emotions on her expressive face. His thigh sped and slowed in an ongoing rhythm that Anna matched. "I do love to play with you. I truly do."

 

* * *

The breakfast service was sent up at six thirty in the morning. By seven o'clock it had been demolished. Alex being the late arrival was left with a single croissant and coffee. Another full service was immediately ordered.

"Who knew that staying here would be so educational," Anna mused making small talk.

"Not me,” Robert added sipping his coffee.

"Your appetite has improved." Alex looked from her sister to Robert and back again. "Both of you."

"There's something about this Swiss air," said Robert.

"Very recuperative and ... inspiring in so many ways I never could have guessed,” Anna added.

At a knock at the door, Anna rose and ushered in the wait staff with their order. All three proceeded to lay waste to the order. Anna refilled their cups with fresh coffee.

Alex glanced at Robert. She was beginning to form some obvious deductions. “Did it rain last night, Robert?"

Robert shook his head. He fiddled with his mobile phone. "Didn't need it." "I see," Alex understood fully. "I believe my job here is done."

"You're not going to stay and meet Andrew?" Anna speared a sausage and selected another piece of toast.

"I'll stay long enough to meet him, of course, but I hate leaving Dimitri to his own devices for too long." Alex looked knowingly at her sister. "You never know what men can come up with when they’re left unobserved.”

"Yeah, they can be full of surprises."

Robert rose. "I'm off for morning exercise. Andrew confirms his arrival here by noon. He's taking the train in from Paris. Giles confirms same."

Tableware clattered. Anna looked accusingly at Robert. "Paris, Robert?! He’s been in Paris all this time?! And Jacques knows him?"

With the very real prospect of dismemberment looming, Robert opted for the simplest answer. "Yes and yes." He was saved from Anna’s volcanic wrath by the arrival of a staff member to escort him to treatment.

Anna called out after his retreating form. "This is not over! Robert, do you hear me?!”

"All your questions will be answered, sweetheart. I promise." Robert practically crooned as he left. "Be good. I love you. See you later."

"Why am I attracted to arrogant, charming, impossible, intelligent, stubborn and unreasonable men?" Anna looked to Alex for answers.

"It's your fatal flaw and mine."

"So this is a ... a Devane woman thing?"

Alex had the answer. "Based on our combined history in the love department, I would say yes."

"Damn!"

Alex hugged Anna. "We all have our crosses to bear. We ought to warn Robin."

"Too late I think." Anna said. "But Robin got Patrick early. Unlike either Robert or Dimitri, his persona isn't set in concrete yet. There's time to ... to ..."

"Train him?" Alex suggested. “Mold him?” “Yes,” agreed Anna.

"And without him knowing it,” Alex added. "Naturally," Anna finished for both of them.


	20. Chest of Dreams

2009 December at the Beauchel Institute

While doing stretches on the mat in the treatment and exercise room, Robert resisted the urge to look around the room. Anna was furious with him. Had he stayed any longer at breakfast he was sure that his skin would have been flayed in record time. He half expected her to come after him and tell him off for not saying a word about Andrew being in Paris.

"Well, luv, I could have but if you had come too close, our boy would have bolted before you got within sight distance,” Robert said out loud. "Then, he would have come here and hauled off on me. Yeah, better for ME to have stayed quiet."

At that Robert chuckled as a memory of the first time he had been exposed to the miniature version of the wit-withering, simmering Devane temper.

 

* * *

 2003 Geneva, Switzerland

"Where have you been?" asked a cross, snippy-sounding Andrew with his hands on hips.

Robert held up a bag full to bursting. "Out foraging for food. What else?"

Andrew blew his nose in a tissue paper. He spoke into the napkin and Robert was able to make out his muffled words. "Was, perchance a note ... informing me of your departure a ... " Andrew sneezed. “An afterthought?"

Robert had to bite his lip to keep from smiling. His ten-years-wise son had a formidable vocabulary and the wits to use it but at the moment Robert was too amused to be intimidated. Combined with his flushed face, rosy cheeks and uncombed, tousled hair, his rather theatrical petulant posturing was comically cute and endearing.

Andrew tugged on the ties of his blue robe then let out another loud sneeze. "I awoke with no clue as to your whereabouts." He gestured towards his backpack, traveling case and sundry belongings strewn about the hotel suite's sitting room. "I was, as you can see, preparing to ... to depart with or without you."

"This is packing?" Robert's eyes took in the unfolded clothes lying in a heap on the sofa, the individual gadgets and electronic gewgaws scattered on the table and the floor, and, lastly, a collection of toiletries and supplies on the ottoman. "It looks like you're settling in for the winter."

"What?" Andrew surveyed the room and found nothing wrong or unusual. "I like to spread my things about while I pack. It ensures that I know what I need to pack and that I do not forget an item."

"If you say so," said Robert dubiously. "I apologize for worrying you, Andrew."

"The Café de Paris is fifteen minutes one way. You were absent for ninety minutes," said Andrew softening but not yet ready to end his sulk.

"I had to walk far afield to find something I liked." "Geneva has almost every kind of food imaginable."

"Yes, it does, but I prefer food that I can pronounce." Robert made his way to the small table and began unpacking the food he had procured. "Before I forget, here's the cold medicine you had on your list."

"Thank you." Andrew took the proffered bottle. "Do you have the chocolate milk? It makes the medicine bearable."

"Here be the milk." Robert opened the carton and poured half a glass for his son. He continued to prepare their dinner all the while watching Andrew pour a precisely measured amount of medicine into the milk. "Andrew, why not drink the medicine from the spoon and follow up with the milk?”

"I ... I ... I don't like taking medicine by itself."

"Robin used to take these flavored medicines or the chewable kind. I'll get some later and you can try them."

Andrew grimaced after taking a gulp of his medicinal concoction. He drank water and swished it around his mouth before swallowing. "No, th-thank you. This is adequate."

"All right then." Robert placed Andrew's food on his part of the table. The medium-sized pizza he put in front of him.

Andrew examined the entree from Café de Paris - entrecôte steak in a special herb-and-butter sauce with golden chips and salad. It looked and smelled heavenly but his eyes kept straying to the pepperoni pizza that Robert had opened but had yet to touch.

Andrew took a deep breath and said, "Sir, would you consider a trade?"

Robert paused midway to unwrapping a very greasy-looking cheese burger. "For my burger?"

Andrew pointed at the pizza. "My steak for your entire pizza."

Robert eyed the steak with covetous eyes. "Are you sure? You ordered that steak specifically. If you wanted a pizza, I would have gotten one for you."

His son squirmed in his seat. "I ... I did not .. was not aware of a pizza parlor in the area. When we come here, Papa always orders for me and I usually like this steak best."

"And now you don't? The pizza's a poor trade, Andrew."

"Not ... not if you love pizza.”

"And you do?"

Andrew nodded. "With lots of pepperoni and extra cheese."

"Which is exactly what this pizza has." Robert re-wrapped the cheeseburger then held the pizza box out to Andrew. "Take it while it's hot. Enjoy."

"I will." A glint of happiness came into his eyes as he took the pizza with one hand and pushed the steak across the table to Robert.

The two were silent for a time as they ate. It had been a frantic travel schedule from Mauritius to Switzerland with many stops and detours to evade their pursuers. For now they were safe. It was a time to rest and recharge.

Andrew settled back into his chair obviously sated with the pizza. "That was delicious."

Robert smiled. "You're a cheap date."

"I rarely have it,” Andrew said as if feeling the need to justify his craving. Robert frowned. "What? If you like it so much why deny yourself?"

Andrew wiped at his mouth with his napkin. He began to open the container of fresh-baked chips. "Papa says it is not nutritious enough for frequent consumption."

"Really? A proper pizza has all the major food groups in a ... a pleasingly compact and visually appealing package."

Andrew recognized a fellow pizza aficionado and smiled. "Yes, that is the perfect description."

Robert leaned conspiratorially across the table. "Did you know that pizza is the BEST food for when you're sick?"

"It is?!"

Robert nodded gravely. "I have had years of personal experience on the matter." "Are you certain your theory is sound?"

"You've just finished one. Let's see if you feel better in the morning,” Robert said. "Pizza, chinese food and cheeseburgers. All nutritional needs covered. There's a place, Kellys, back home that has the best burgers." Robert snuck a peek at his son. "Maybe, someday, you'd like to go there with me. There's about four pizza joints around the same area."

"Four?!" Andrew's eyes widened.

"And, they're all very good. At Luigi's, you can pick the dough, the cheese and the toppings. Your very own custom pizza. If it's really good, they'll put it on the menu."

"I did not know you could do that."

"Only the very best pizza places have that,” Robert declared. "How many parlors have you been to?"

"Not many," said Andrew. "The smell doesn't agree with Papa."

Robert was amused thinking of Faison cowed by a flat piece of dough. “Really? Why?”

"I do not know. When I have some at home, I have to eat it outside."

"If you're with me, I'll eat with you. In fact, everyone in the family loves pizza." "My mother, too?"

Robert nodded. "Uh, huh, though not us much as WE love it - you, me, your sister Robin and my brother Mac. Anna has a true weakness for Chinese. You'd never get her to admit to it though."

"Where is the pizza restaurant you got this from?" Andrew attacked his salad. "Are they open for lunch?"

"I think so." Robert munched on a roll. "I thought we were set to leave immediately after we return from the bank. It’s not a good idea to stay in one place for too long."

"We can take a later train, can't we? Also, I AM sick. Therefore, I am in the unique position of testing your pizza theory. I can recoup my lost sleep tonight and in the morning. The bank is not open until nine thirty."

"Remind me again why we're here. What is so important?"

"I need to do something before we begin to search for Papa,” Andrew replied. "You did not need to accompany me. I could have met you in Göteborg as I suggested."

Robert let out an uneasy laugh. "You're all of ten years old. I am not letting you out of my sight."

"When the need arises, I am perfectly capable of traveling on my own." "You should have adult company for protection."

"Salim accompanies me. We travel separately for a short distance then rendezvous at a pre-determined location."

"Switzerland to Sweden is not a short distance in my book. Even if I did consider it, no child of mi- of your age should ever be traveling alone."

"Nothing has happened to me so far."

"There's a first time for everything." Robert countered. "You don't like my company is that it? We've gotten along haven’t we?”

"Yes, sir, we have,” Andrew admitted. "I did not think we would not." "No?"

"We are related. We must have some common ground."

"How very mature of you." Robert looked at his son closely. He was not a simpleton nor simple. How long would it take to really know Andrew? Robert suspected his lifetime would not be enough. "You've lost half that already."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I'm just rambling,” Robert said. "Will we take long at the bank?"

"I don't believe so."

"And you won't have a problem accessing your bank account? I'm assuming that's why you're here."

"They know me on sight. Papa and I come here once a year on my birthday." "It's not your birthday now."

"No, it's not but I .. I d-d-do not know what the future will bring. There are some things I should n-not leave to chance."

"Such as?"

"You'll find out tomorrow." Andrew stood up and yawned. "I feel sleepy. The medicine is working."

"Take the bed. I'll take the couch. I'll clean up here."

"All right." Andrew shuffled off to bedroom. "Goodnight, sir."

"Andrew," Robert called out. "Lock the door. Make sure you're packed. You understand what I'm saying?"

Andrew nodded. He picked up his backpack and stuffed his things into it. In case he had to leave in a hurry, it was best to be prepared. They had evaded their pursuers time after time but they always caught up. He couldn't afford to take chances.

 

* * *

2003 Geneva, Switzerland at Banque Halland Hote

Robert tensed as he followed Andrew into the elegant but unassuming lobby of the Banque Halland Hote. Without a trace of nerves, Andrew approached the receiving desk.

An elderly gentleman dressed in a conservative dark blue suit stood by the desk chatting with the clerk. He saw Andrew and smiled widely. "Andrew!"

"Hello, Monsieur Hote," Andrew smiled back then, unexpectedly, embraced the older man.

"I know it is not your birthday." Hote saw Robert and his back straightened. "Is he with you? Where is your Papa or Salim?"

"Yes, he is. Monsieur Laurent Hote, this is Robert Scorpio,” Andrew said.

Something flickered behind the older man's eyes. Robert was sure of it. He could feel the banker studying him. Discreetly, of course, he was Swiss after all. Robert had not been frisked. He just felt like he had been.

"Let us continue inside,” Hote said taking Andrew's hand in his and leading them deeper into the bank.

Robert tried to keep track of the turns they took but it was not possible. He kept watch on Andrew for any sign of tension but found none. Perhaps this was their normal route. He did notice a few things. The floor was slanting downward at near imperceptible angle. The security features were a formidable combination of modern sophisticated electronics and manual verification.

After some time, Hote opened a nondescript door that had a simple plaque on it that said 'E12'. "Here you are. Please come in and have a seat."

Andrew made a beeline for a tall stool positioned along a plain table. Robert made to take the stool opposite Andrew but Hote stopped him.

"Please, Mr. ... Scorpio. Identification first,” Hote said. Robert handed Hote an ID card. Instead of looking at it, Hote picked up a phone in the room and summoned someone. "You understand that Andrew Sinclair is a minor and I must take certain precautions."

The door opened and two men entered. Hote handed the card to one and said, "Jeruld, verify this card and identity." Jeruld left.

Robert kept his mouth shut taking his seat on the stool. He watched Andrew lay his backpack on the table and rummage inside it.

Five minutes passed before Jeruld returned. "Verified, monsieur Hote."

Hote nodded and the two men left them alone. He handed the card to Robert and addressed Andrew. "Why are you here so unexpectedly?"

"I am going on a trip. I need to make a deposit first." Andrew handed Hote a small black passbook. "My box, please."

The banker left the room passbook in hand. Andrew hummed happily off tune and off key while he waited.

Robert had listened and watched the exchange closely. So far, everything that had happened had had an air of the surreal. After a decade, he had found his son who had turned out not at all as he had imagined. He had promised to find and rescue, if need be, a hated enemy. He had endured a flurry of cars, planes and trains as they zigzagged across three continents. They had managed to stay a few steps and countries ahead of DVX agents bent on taking Andrew. Now, he was in a bank waiting for Andrew’s treasures?

"So, you have a box here?" asked Robert.

Andrew nodded. "Papa has one and so do I."

"I'm not surprised," said Robert dryly. "Why did you want to come here, really?"

"To make a deposit,” Andrew replied matter-of-factly. As far as he was concerned that was answer enough.

Monsieur Hote returned with a tall wide bank deposit drawer with a series of numbers engraved on it. He placed it on the table with care. From an inside pocket he removed a key and opened the case. "Call me when you have completed your visit." Hote left them to their privacy.

Robert fidgeted in his seat ill concealing his eagerness to see the contents. Using two hands, Andrew flipped the lid off. Inside was something old and wooden.

"What is this?" asked Robert.

"Can you take it out please?" Andrew requested. "And, please be very careful." Robert used two hands and lifted the object out. It was an antique chest. Andrew opened the chest's lid. Robert could see a mishmash of objects inside.

"Since we will be traveling I do not want to lose my valuables or damage them." Andrew removed from his backpack a VHS tape, some laminated pictures and a baseball cap. He reached deep into the chest and gently pulled out something wrapped in a brown wrapper. "This is meant for you."

"Me?" asked a very surprised Robert. "What is it?"

"Papa left instructions for this to be given to you by me or the bank." Andrew explained. "It's my baby blanket."

"Y-y-your blanket?"

Andrew smiled. "You may have it. It's too small now."

Robert stared at the bundle in front of him warily. "Why? What did he mean?"

"Perhaps there is a note inside from Papa or ... or my mother."

"Anna?" Tentatively, Robert reached for the bundle.

"I am told that she bought many of these things if not all of them before I was born." Andrew said. "Keepsakes she called them."

Andrew began to take things out of the chest. Robert untied the bundle and it rolled outward. Inside was a scrap of paper. Instantly, he crinkled his nose at the familiar scent of clove cigarettes - Faison's brand. He brought the blanket to his face and sniffed. It was faint but it was there - Anna's scent. Robert swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. With trembling hands he began to read the note. It said:

Scorpio, as agreed, below are the full instructions. I have kept my promise to Anna. She must know that. C Faison.

"She will,” Robert said under his breath. He re-wrapped the blanket. "Andrew, this needs to go back inside for ... for safekeeping." He spied the rest of the treasures arrayed on the table. He picked up a small plastic envelope. He pulled out a pair of mittens and booties. "Y-yours?"

Andrew nodded while dusting the insides of the now empty chest.

"Your hands and ... and feet were so small." Robert marveled at the mittens. He closed his eyes and inhaled. Anna's smell mixed with what he could only guess as a typical baby smell.

"I WAS born premature."

"I remember seeing you in the incubator. My forearm was longer than you were.” Robert fingered a soft baby one piece in blue and white. "All this blue. You could have been a girl."

"They knew I was to be a boy."

Robert's hands turned into fists at his side. "Did they?"

"When they went to the doctor. Papa said that he was very careful with ... with my mother's health and mine."

"He said that did he?" Robert's jaw clenched and a tick pulsed in his cheek.

"He made certain that she ate and rested properly even when she was upset with me,” Andrew said as he rearranged the items back into the chest.

"With you?"

"I kicked often. And the morning sickness. She was tired all the time."

Robert blinked back tears. With Robin, he had felt immense regret. Was it worse that he now knew what he had missed? And for the second time? He said gruffly, "It's ... good of your ... him to take such good care of my wife and son."

"He promised her that he would always see me safe. What else could he do?"

A short pile of laminated photos caught Robert's eye. He picked one up and showed it to Andrew. "How old were you in this?"

Andrew reddened. "Two or three." He gave an envelope labeled ‘Sonogram 3/1992’. "Here. My first picture."

Robert stared at the sonogram unable to speak or think for one of the few times in his life. Words were inadequate and his heart was held captive by a bittersweet fullness. He grabbed at the table for support as he swayed.

Unaware of the emotional maelstrom swirling inside Robert, Andrew chatted on like an enthusiastic museum tour guide. "That was taken in Sag Harbor. That's on Long Island. I was very small but they could tell I was a boy. I do not know how. I cannot tell myself no matter how I look at it."

"Sag Harbor," repeated Robert. The first message to Andre had come from there. He looked at the sonogram and the chest with new eyes. Andrew had given Anna the strength to fight back. He was sure of it. "Breadcrumbs instead of guns."

"What was that, sir?" asked Andrew. "You said that Anna bought this stuff?"

"Yes." Andrew held up the baseball cap with the words 'Sag Harbor' stitched on the bill. "This cap and this rattle, too. I will leave my cap here. I don't want to lose it."

"There's a lot in here," Robert said looking inside the chest. "She would purchase something at each stop."

"The better to find a way to make contact,” Robert murmured. "Contact?"

Before Robert could answer, Hote burst into the room clearly distressed. "Andrew, come with me. Leave that!"

Robert pushed Andrew behind him and faced Hote. "What's going on?"

"There are men here. DVX. For him,” Hote explained. "You must get out while they are ... occupied."

Wordlessly, Andrew put the cap and tape into the chest, zipped his backpack and put it on. "I am ready."

Hote led them at a run down two steep staircases. Robert carried Andrew down each one. They found themselves in an underground parking garage. Hote led them to a black BMW and handed Robert a set of keys. "This car is not traceable. The exit leads to the river road which will take you to the airport. There is cash and luggage in the back. Take your son and be safe."

Robert's head whipped around. "How do you know - ?"

"I have always known. How is unimportant." With that, Hote ran back the way they came presumably to delay the DVX men as best he could.

Robert hit the accelerator and didn't look back. He made Andrew lie on the floor in the back as they exited the garage.

"We're not going to the airport. Too predictable." Robert said. "Fancy the scenic route to Sweden, my boy?"

"I suppose,” Andrew said. "It was a ... mistake to come here."

"Nothing wrong with following your heart,” replied Robert. "Your head will tell you the perfect road to follow but your heart will make any road a perfect one. You're young and still learning. We all make mistakes of judgment."

"Whatever route you think best as long as we get there, sir,” Andrew sniffed. "I need a tissue. The pizza treatment is not working."

Robert laughed. "Root around back there. Sweden here we come then."


	21. Meeting Andrew

2009 December at the Beauchel Institute

Henri Renard eyed the young man striding through the lobby. The mirrored sunglasses hid his eyes but Renard could deduce much from mere appearance alone. The young man had the loose limbed stride of the young. Perhaps early twenties, he guessed. His thick honey blond hair was parted and combed back neatly. The ends tickled his shirt collar but young men sported far longer lengths these days.

Under an obviously expensive leather overcoat, the man wore a blindingly white dress shirt with a dark blue tie with its end tucked inside the shirt. A buttoned navy blue velour vest went over the shirt. Black fitted slacks and polished dress shoes completed the picture. He carried with ease a case and a backpack slung over his shoulder. In his free hand, he had a red and gold paper bag which he held by the handle.

As Andrew grew closer, Renard found that the young man was nearly equal in height to himself at five foot eight. Sunglasses framed a long oval face with high cheekbones, an aquiline nose and full lips.

As he approached the reception desk, Andrew removed his sunglasses. Renard was startled by the young man's cool, assessing blue eyes under thin blonde arching brows. His voice when he spoke was warm and mellow. His diction was precise. Renard could not readily place his accent. It sounded British yet was not.

"Andrew Scorpio to see Robert Scorpio. He's expecting me,” said Andrew to Renard. He remembered a second too late that he should have used his alias and not his real name.

"Yes, Madame Devane informed us to prepare for your arrival. Welcome to the Institute." Renard walked around the front desk and extended his hand. "I am Henri Renard and I will escort you to your father's room."

“Andrew Scorpio to see Robert Scorpio

Andrew shook the manager's hand and said in French. "Thank you, Monsieur Renard."

"Your mother is here and your aunt. Such a family."

"I am told they are here,” Andrew said firmly. "May we go please?"

Much as he did with Anna, Renard led the way through the lobby then up the stairs. The manager asked questions about his train trip, the latest news in Paris and other things. All of which Andrew answered with monosyllables or no interest at all.

"Monsieur Renard, please do not believe that I need to be entertained by conversation. I do not,” Andrew said. "Is the room much further?"

"Just down this hallway." Renard lengthened his stride. The sooner to get away from the unnerving, chilly young man. He thought that he could not possibly be Madame Devane's son. He lacked her effervescent joie de vivre. Perhaps, Monsieur Scorpio had had another wife who spawned this one.

Andrew stopped a few doors away from his father's room by a hall table with an oval mirror mounted above it. "Monsieur, if you will, please leave me now. I shall proceed on alone. I'm sure you have duties far more important than being my escort."

Renard agreed and walked away with unfeigned alacrity. He did not even look back over his shoulder.

After making sure that Renard was out of sight, Andrew dropped the case and backpack. He took off his overcoat. Andrew checked his appearance in the wall mirror. "You look presentable enough. Now or never."

He took several deep cleansing breaths to calm his racing heart. He slung the coat over one arm and picked up the case and backpack. He carried the red bag with the other hand. With his back straight, shoulders back and chest out, he began to walk.

The closer he got the clearer he heard voices coming from the room.

His father said, "Anna, stop it. Enough already."

"Are you sure these are all his favorites, Robert? I can order more." Andrew stumbled upon hearing his mother's voice. Papa had played some recordings of

her but she sounded very different from what he heard now. Even in his favorite tape, his mother had never sounded so warm, rich and melodic - a mother's voice. He stood still for a moment straining to hear more.

"You ordered from three of the best French and Italian restaurants in the city. He won't be lacking for choices,” another female voice answered.

This was Dr. Marick, his mother's twin, thought Andrew. Her voice sounded similar to his mother's but the cadence was more formal and British. Andrew took a deep breath and began to walk forward again. He muttered, "Now or never."

"I'm hungry. He's late. Where IS that boy?" Andrew smiled at his father's exasperated tone. He resumed walking.

"Did you check his train?" asked Anna.

"Twice," Robert answered. "Stop fussing. You look beautiful and everything on the table is edible."

Anna began, "It's a few minutes, maybe twenty, from there to here. So he-" Anna's voice trailed off as Andrew entered.

"Hey, old man, you want some Mu Shu Pork, Yangchow Fried Rice and Hong Kong Steak?" cried Andrew in greeting displaying the red and gold carryout bag prominently.

That broke the ice. They all laughed. Andrew dropped his coat, backpack and case on the sofa. Robert met him halfway and they embraced. Over his father's shoulder, Andrew locked eyes with his mother for the first time in his life and hers. His father released him. Together, they faced Anna.

"Anna, this is our son, Andrew Malcolm. Andrew, this is your mother Anna." Robert stood back letting mother and son have their moment.

Andrew stood at attention with hands folded behind him. Uncertainty warred with determination in his face and eyes. He swallowed hard before addressing her formally. "It is a ... I'm glad to meet you, ma'am."

Wordlessly, Anna approached her son. Her ears caught every word, syllable and nuance of his voice. The closer she got the higher she had to look. He was tall her son. Her finger touched his vest first. The vest and shirt fitted him perfectly. Her son had a good tailor. She tweaked the tie's knot at his throat. He tied a good knot her son did.

Andrew did not flinch when Anna touched the side of his jaw with one hand. Her free hand reached upward. Andrew bent forward a little as his mother grasped a strand of hair and let it run through her fingers. Her touch grazed his forehead and brows before descending to touch his ear. Her other hand rubbed his cheek. His skin still had the soft suppleness of early youth. He had her lips. His eyes were twins to his father's and uncle's. Anna pressed her face to his cheek. Her heart leapt as she felt Andrew lean into her. This was her child, her son.

Anna stood back and let Andrew take his turn scrutinizing her. "Hello, Andrew." Unable to say anything else, she simply extended both hands to her son palms up.

Shyly, Andrew took her hands in his. He looked at her hands closely then said, "Ah, ten fingers as expected. I assume ten toes, too."

That earned him a laugh and a full smile. He decided that he liked her laugh. He couldn't find the words to describe her smile but he wanted to see it again.

He liked her eyes. They danced and sparkled. She hadn't smothered him

with false affection. He liked that about her. She wasn't what he expected.

She was better, his mother. "I have a request to make."

"Yes, whatever it is, yes," said Anna.

"Say my name."

Anna said his name putting all her love into every syllable. "Andrew." Andrew nodded. "I like it ... the way you say it."

"Then I'll keep saying it." said Anna. "Andrew, Andrew, Andrew."

"Last test to see if you're really my mother." He stepped forward and

tentatively enfolded his mother in his arms. Suddenly, she was hugging him tightly and he hugged her back just as hard. He rested his head on her head and held on. His father and aunt dabbed at their eyes. He had to admit his vision was a little misty too.

Anna broke the embrace wiping tears from her eyes. "I can hear Robert's stomach complaining. Let's eat."

* * *

Throughout lunch, Anna barely ate content to watch Andrew. She noted what foods he favored and how he ate. Andrew appreciated and knew wine but he didn't overindulge. His manners were impeccable. He had pulled her chair out for her. He had served the food to her and Alex first before taking any himself. His movements were deliberate and precise. She would swear there wasn't a crumb on his clothes.

She studied his features intently. She could see traces of herself in him though he did take up after his father and uncle with his height and Scorpio eyes. Her son. She resisted the urge to touch him again contenting herself with looking her fill. For now that was enough.

When she wasn't watching Andrew she watched Robert and Andrew interact. It wasn't the same as between Robert and Robin. They spoke to each other as masculine equals. Anna sensed a mutual love and respect between father and son as much as man to man. For Andrew, despite his physical age, had an obvious maturity. His speech pattern ranged from casual to formal to educated with nary a slang phrase. His physical carriage bore the mark of an adult's self assurance not the self conscious swagger and bravado of his age peers. Next to her, Alex was equally fascinated studying the two males.

"What do you think?" Anna asked her twin.

"That the female population had better guard their hearts for the next several decades," Alex replied. "You and Robert make beautiful children."

Anna beamed. "We didn't make mistakes there, did we?"

"Andrew and Robin are going to look striking next to each other. They will complement each other so well."

"Robert, I want to have a family portrait with Robin, Emma and Patrick." Anna said enthusiastically. "Andrew, you can come with me to Robin's wedding. It's in a few days."

Andrew's hand began to tremble. He dropped his fork. "I don't think that's ... that's-"

"Andrew, she's going to love you as I do," Anna insisted. She noticed Andrew's downcast expression. She resisted the urge to lean forward and let her touch reassure him. Instead, she smiled. "Don't worry. She's always wanted a sibling. Better late than never."

"That's ... that's ... that is ... not the prob-problem," Andrew's stuttering grew worse. He looked at Robert and an unspoken message was communicated.

Robert stood up. He put both hands on Andrew's shoulders and eased him to his feet. Robert tuned his voice to be calming. "The room next door is very comfortable. You're to stay there tonight. Say your goodbyes and then you may go and rest. If you feel up to it, you can always come back later. Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

Andrew visibly drew himself together. He bade farewell and fled the suite.

Anna's alarm was plain. "What did I say? Tell me, Robert, what happened just now?"

"It's nothing you said, luv. You didn't do anything wrong." Robert led Anna by the hand to the couch. He gestured Alex to follow.

"Things were ... were going so well I thought," said Anna. "I rushed him into this. Should I have been more patient?"

Robert sat next to Anna on the couch. "Andrew has moderate Asperger's Syndrome. Stress and nervous energy triggers it. What is a teenage boy but a bundle of nerves? Do you know what the condition is, Alex?"

Alex nodded understanding. "Until recently, Asperger's was thought to be a kind of autism. It's a developmental disorder with symptoms unique to it that affect boys more than girls. Boys with the syndrome are often very intelligent but display social and emotional behavior that is not always appropriate, are usually awkward or clumsy, have behaviors that others label as eccentric and, lastly, these boys have great difficulty adapting to change whether that is in their environment, routines or rituals."

"You're wrong, Alex," Anna protested. "Andrew didn't display any of those symptoms. You're off the mark."

"No, she's not," Robert rubbed his rubbed his thumb across Anna's hand. "Andrew has worked very hard to compensate for what he perceives to be weaknesses. Growing up, and even now, he has his manias — things that interests him to a near obsessive degree. For example, by the age of seven, he could program in three different computer programming languages. By the age of nine, he was hacking into military and government installations undetected. His condition drives him to study and master whatever interest is pulling him in. He never feels he knows enough. But as brilliant as he is in math, technology and his other manias, he's very awkward in social situations. When he feels out of control, he begins to stutter from mild to unintelligible "

"He wasn't awkward today."

"Anna, it has taken that boy two years to get his head around the mere thought of meeting you. It's taken another year of positive reinforcement and encouragement to make him see that meeting you wouldn't change his world so much that he couldn't cope." Robert explained further. "I have no doubt that he prepared meticulously so this meeting would go well. He doesn't do small talk. He's probably rehearsed a dozen different scenarios in his head, a hundred responses, so that he would be prepared. His performance needed to seem effortless and easy. It wasn't, Anna, not for him."

"You're saying that his behavior is all an act?"

"Not at all,” Robert said. "I know you noticed his table manners. When he was very young he used to be very clumsy at the table and absent-minded. Faison drilled him on basic social behavior so the other children wouldn't laugh at his clumsiness and ignorance. Andrew practiced his manners, table behavior and etiquette until he was nearly perfect. Eventually after all that practice, it becomes part of his normal behavior. Most of us don't think about learning that sort of thing. We just do it. Andrew is different."

"What about his reaction to the idea of meeting Robin? Does he NOT want to? We have to tell her."

"It's not that. He wants to know her. He just needs time to understand the concept and prepare himself for that meeting. Just give him a little time." Robert put an arm around Anna. "He's got a will of iron when he wants something. They will meet, eventually."

"I don't like keeping this from her, Robert. It's wrong."

"It's just for a little while. When Andrew is settled with the idea, Robin and Mac will be the first to know." Robert added firmly, “I will not push him on this one and I'll stop you if you try."

Anna ran her hands through her hair. "Alex, is this condition chronic? Is there a cure?"

"It's a permanent neurological condition. The only cure is what he seems to be already doing which is acknowledging the problem and controlling it, not letting it control him,” advised Alex. "Robert is right. Time and consideration are the best strategies."

"Could I have done something during my pregnancy to cause this? Wasn't I careful? I thought I had been. Was it my age at the time?"

"No, Anna, it's nothing you could have done. It's not genetic. It's simply a difference in brain pattern. Andrew's brain is processing data, if you will, a little differently than an average human being. This difference is responsible for overcompensating in other areas such high intelligence, high concentration abilities and so forth. He is an impressive young man, even more so knowing what he is coping with on a daily basis."

"All right, it's incurable I understand that. Will ... will he get better as he gets older?

Alex sighed. "Clinically speaking, better is a relative term."

Anna glared at her twin sister. "So he'll get worse?! That's what you're telling me?"

"In some cases, the effects of Aspergers can be minimized to the point of triviality if the affected person puts in a lot of work," said Alex.

"I don't care about the affected person," said Anna heatedly. "Tell me what my son will have to go through? Level with me."

It was Robert who responded. "He can never let up, Anna. His discipline and the behavior management skills he's developed over time to cope can never be put away for good. He has to become stronger and smarter to keep the worse of it minimized."

"Robert, most Aspies improve over time. They learn to handle social situations without an increase in anxiety. They find jobs for which their tendencies are well suited," said Alex. "Most lead normal lives."

"Andrew is not normal. He can't be. He's ours!" countered Robert. "Andrew is brilliant, intense, passionate and strong-willed but naive about life. He prefers solitude and isolation but he can't hide forever."

"That's something most Aspies do when they tire of the constant adjustments and adaptations they have to do just to get along in society," said Alex.

"That's not the life I want for him or what he deserves," said Robert. I've done my best to throw life in his face, increase his social circle and build up his confidence. It's been a bit like spoon feeding a bird."

"Applying pressure to force him to learn and adapt more and more but at his own pace. Give him the tools and knowledge to use later on if he has to," said Anna.

"He's too strong-minded to be dictated to. He hates being manipulated. Very much like someone I know."

Anna grinned. "He's half you, too. What do we do now? How do we help him?"

"He's had a full day. He's probably at his social limit. He needs some quiet time to relax and reflect. He'll be fine in the morning, you'll see,” Robert said.


	22. Robert's Lost Years

On catlike feet, Anna walked through the sitting room into the bedroom where Andrew lay sleeping. She longed to turn on the lamp and watch him sleep but her son was clearly exhausted. There would be more time in the future to indulge her maternal side. The blanket slipped to the side. Anna bent over the bed meaning to pull up the covers.

In seconds, Anna felt herself flipped over with one arm locked, her face smashed into the duvet and Andrew's knee digging into the small of her back. "Andrew, it's me," she said.

"Oh, apologies, uh, so sorry," Andrew stood up extending a hand to his mother. "Light sleeper. Reflex."

Anna ran her fingers through her hair. She stretched her back. "Good reflexes. Even better technique. Someone's taught you well."

Andrew turned on the lamp before slipping back into his bed. "Credit Papa and Father."

"Papa is ...?” Anna guessed the answer but wanted to hear for herself. Andrew hesitated. "Cesar Faison. I call him Papa."

His words implied the present tense not the past tense. Anna clamped down on her reaction. She had to remain calm especially around her son. "You're in contact with him? Even now?!"

When he answered, Andrew's voice was flat and factual. "Yes." "He's ... he's a dangerous man, Andrew, he can -"

"Papa is dangerous to OTHER people but never to me," Andrew interrupted.

"I don't understand how-" Anna searched her son's face. He was completely guileless. "I don't understand any of this."

"I see that Father hasn't fully briefed you on things Andrew."

"Your father's been very selective about what he tells me and what he doesn't. I’m not used to that from him.”

"That's ... that's probably because of our deal,” said Andrew. "Deal?"

"I have an idea but, first, what do I call you?" Andrew asked. "Anna is ... is not right."

"What are you comfortable calling me - Mom, Mum, Mother, old hag?"

Andrew laughed, "Mother, you're as old and feeble as I am." That witticism earned him a smile. "Let me get dressed and, if you want, I can tell you some ancient history."

"I want," answered Anna. "Are you all right talking with me without your father in the room?"

"I think so."

"About what happened earlier about coming to see Robin with me, I should not have presumed, uh, anything,” Anna said. "You're sixteen not six."

"It was just the suddenness of the question about the wedding. It started an anxiety attack. You didn't do anything wrong." Andrew asked, "Father has told you about my condition?"

Anna nodded. "I'm very proud of the way you're handling it. Whatever help you need from me is yours. I can't read your mind yet. You'll have to tell me when it's okay and when it's not okay." Anna extended her hand. "Deal?"

Andrew shook her hand. "Deal."

"Get dressed. I'll be in the sitting room. I'll order coffee and a snack.”

* * *

Andrew came back in jeans and a pullover long sleeved knit shirt. Anna poured coffee for them both from the carafe on the service trolley. Besides the coffee, Andrew spied a pile of finger sandwiches and several slices of various sumptuous desserts. He made a beeline for the tray and fixed himself a full plate.

Anna sat in the armchair with her legs curled under her. "Hungry are we?"

"I'm a growing boy." He finished a sandwich before he started his talk. "Let me see. I was with Papa until I was ten years old. Father found me when I was nearly eleven. And here I am now with you."

"It'll be a short night with answers like that. Points for an excellent precis though. Fill in the rest, please."

Andrew munched on another sandwich. "Papa and I lived all over the world. The first place I have memory of is Norway. We lived there when I was three. Then Sicily until I was five. We spent two years in Morocco. I had just turned eight when we moved to Port Louis in Mauritius. That's where father found me."

"Robert looked for you all that time?"

"No, Grandpere Jacques and Uncle Andre searched for me while Father was in prison. They were-"

"In prison?!" exclaimed Anna. "For what?"

"It was one of the terms of his deal with the WSB." Seeing the look of utter confusion on his mother's face, Andrew elaborated further. "As far as I know, Father was required to infiltrate a criminal organization. The WSB had failed multiple times so they decided an approach from the lowest level of the criminal food chain had to be attempted. Father's real identity was declared dead as was yours. In order to establish full authenticity for his new identity, Father had to be a criminal not just act like one. His new identity was an arms dealer sentenced to two years in Equatorial Guinea after a deal gone sour."

Anna was instantly horrified. "Equatorial Guinea has one of the worst prisons in the world. Conditions are harsh and the inmates are brutalized. It's practically a death sentence to be sent there."

"Par for the course in Africa," remarked Andrew stretching out on the couch folding his arms behind his head. "His mission was to establish contacts and befriend several key inmates. After two and half years, he was released. That was in 1995. From there he went straight into an infiltration assignment of the targeted mercenary organization for the next three years. The operation finished successfully in 1997 and that cover identity 'died.'"

"That's why he didn't find me." Anna said the words out loud without realizing it. "He couldn't break cover."

"Father hasn't told you the details?"

"He just said he couldn't find me,” Anna sniffed. "No elaboration other than it was for the family good."

"Father doesn't like talking about that time period at all."

Anna swiped at her eyes. "I got off lightly. What's a little amnesia compared to savage brutality?"

"It was easier on everyone left behind to be told that both of you were dead,” said Andrew. "No one knew if your memory would ever return. And father's missions were usually suicidal. So, for all intents and purposes, you were both already dead."

Anna felt each of Andrew's words like hammer blows on her psyche, heart and spirit. Much of Robert's past behaviour made sense now. She now understood fully his inability to fully explain to his family why he had never contacted them. In the Markham Islands, she had poured scorn and anger on his head and he hadn't defended himself. It had meant years of her thinking the worse of him. Now that she knew why a wave of disgust at her own assumptions and behavior swept over her.

"I've never truly forgiven your father for his ... abandonment of me and Robin. I just accepted it as part and parcel of the past. Water under the bridge."

"How could you have known."

"Your father and I have issues between us and we have to deal with them. Not sweep them under the rug like what I've been doing,” Anna's fist hit the armrest. "Why didn't your father just tell me all this? Why?"

"Mother, some truths are too painful to be shared. Besides, how much would knowing the truth have changed the outcome?"

"You think it's better to bottle it all up inside for years and years and never deal with it? You don't share because ... " Anna sighed realizing how it must have seemed from Robert's viewpoint. "Because you think it's for the best for that other person. Because you love them so much, you think sparing them the pain of the truth is the right thing to do."

"Perhaps it was better at the time. Ignorance can be blissful."

"But holding on to it costs something. It has cost us time. Our whole family." Anna said. "If I had told Robert about that last job, our lives could have been so different. If he had told me about my memory, about you, about Africa-"

"There is no reclaiming the past, Mother. Would it not be more productive to improve the present? That's what you did." Andrew propped himself on some pillows. "With your WSB record purged of all DVX activities, you were able to ... to fashion a new life while retaining ties to the old. And for-"

"I was cleared of charges but the Bureau never deletes anything." Anna clarified. "Ever."

"You were cleared because the charges had no merit, no support. Father's deal with the WSB guaranteed that the records of two operatives were purged. One was yours and the other record belonged to Sean Donely. No evidence therefore charges cleared,” Andrew said. "As far as the world and the WSB is concerned, you were an invaluable and loyal agent."

Anna rose out of her chair like a shot. "Once a traitor, always a traitor."

"Mother, officially, you are not one today nor were you one yesterday neither will you ever be one ever again."

"It can't just be gone,” said Anna in disbelief. She paced like a tiger anticipating the opening of the cage door.

"With every passing day that piece of information loses more and more relevance."

"How can you be sure that it's gone?"

"All electronic and physical files in all WSB offices and data centers were purged. Father would not allow himself to be transported to Africa until he had confirmation of the purge. I have since double-checked myself. Yours and Mr. Donely's records are clean."

"Faison had records of my activities and-"

"The Nanny Network data? It wasn't what it seemed to be. More misdirection."

"But Mac told me that he had found data on a chip that detailed the missions I carried out for Faison."

"You would have had to have been two, maybe three, people to have completed so many assignments. I doubt you could remember even half of the real

assignments. It was doctored to be even more damning that it truly was,” Andrew said. "Like your WSB record it doesn't matter anymore. Purged. Gone. Never existed."

Anna stopped so abruptly that her body swayed. Her words when they came were halting and faint as if coming from a far distance. "But that means ... that means ... I'm free ... in every sense of the word." She reached for the back of the armchair to steady herself. "I'm free."

"Yes, for what it's worth to you. It also means that Anna Devane never had another child with Robert Scorpio. No mention of your pregnancy remains on the official records."

"And my hospital records?"

"Uncle Andre personally retrieved those and destroyed them."

"And Faison took care of my memories."

Andrew rose to refill his coffee. "Yes, he did. With no evidence of a pregnancy and you and father publicized as dead, the rumors vanished."

His mother was silent lost in her thoughts.

Andrew rambled. "Somehow I think Father improvised quite a bit on those terms. But I haven't been able to get him to admit that. He says it was all part of a larger master plan. I was safe and anonymous as Father apparently intended."

"What do you mean? Safe from what?"

"Uncle Andre delayed in following your trail because Grandpere was uneasy. He was hearing strange news from different sources. From what I understand, at the time of your disappearance, the intelligence networks were already churning with activity. When the WSB's black box orders came through for you both, it set off a chain reaction that no one expected. If you two were low profile operatives, there would have hardly been any notice but you were not. The addition of Faison back from the dead made the networks more uncertain, more chaotic. There were rumors of imminent reprisals bureau against bureau, agents were choosing sides on their own and some were ducking for cover or entirely removing themselves from the field. Then rumors of your pregnancy began to filter throughout. When father turned rogue to find you, the network traffic exploded. No one knew who to trust or communicate with." Andrew sat back on the couch.

"But we were ... were no one! We weren't active anymore. Why the interest?"

"I suppose it was chiefly due to your reputations and wide network of acquaintances. Though you were retired, you still helped the Bureau on some cases. You were never completely out of the spotlight.”

Anna rubbed at her temples. "My memory is still sorting through things. Who was after us besides the WSB?"

"The hunters seemed to multiply overnight. The WSB was on the trail to fulfill orders. The DVX felt that eliminating you and Faison were critical to keep whatever DVX secrets you may have possessed out of the hands of the WSB. Grandpere and Uncle Andre were able to discover three other factions that were on the hunt for you. They believed that they wanted you to get to me."

“But why? You were a baby.”

"True motives can only be guessed at. One was a for hire intelligence organization and the other a private organization identified only as CHI1. The third faction was dubbed The Foundation after the signature on their messages. All teams had orders to take you alive and dispose of Father in any manner they chose,” said Andrew. "All these forces converged in Caracas, Venezuela. Uncle Andre says that he and father barely got away alive from a six-way fire fight. Literally an entire city block was set ablaze during the melee."

"I remember Robert and Grant - Andre - coming aboard the Nereo. I never got the story on how they paired up?"

"Father came to see Grandpere. Fortuitously, Uncle Andre had not yet left but was about to." Andre finished his last sandwich. "They went to Belize to pick up your trail then on to Caracas."

"I remember waking up on the speed boat with tracer fire exploding around us. They followed us just as Robert had planned. Faison and Andre got away with you though I didn’t know that at the time,” said Anna. "Then our boat was blown out from under us and we got separated in the water. We boarded the tanker but Robert was in the rear and I was in the middle. I remember trying to reach him because ... because he was under heavy fire. Hunters were swarming the tanker. I couldn't get to him. I was being grabbed and pulled at. I fought back until ... until I saw Robert go down." Her voice drifted off and her eyes seemed transfixed by a vision only she could see.

"And then?" asked Andrew. There was no response. "Mother?"

"I saw him drop and not move. I was screaming that we surrendered so that they would stop the shooting. The firing was like a wall of sound enveloping us." Her voice cracked. "Crates and glass windows exploded around him but ... but he never moved. I called and yelled but he never moved."

Andrew sensed that his mother was no longer in the room with him. He waited in the dim sitting room. Even in the short time, he had known Anna, he could see she was as complex a personality as they came. His parents' lives were intertwined in ways he knew he would never fully understand. Maybe, they were only just understanding it themselves. He waited patiently for her to continue.

“Suddenly, all the noise disappeared. I saw nothing, heard nothing. I could only feel." Anna lapsed into silence again for a few minutes. "I've never felt so ... lonely."

Anna stood unmoving caught captive by her thoughts and feelings set against a backdrop of special moments. The cold ocean and the heat of lips against hers. The strength in arms that held her whenever she fell to doubt and grief.

An unforgettable voice in a last letter to their daughter: Let me tell you about the woman I love, your mother.

"It's nearly one in the morning. Why don't we resume tomorrow." Andrew slid an arm around her waist and gently guided his dazed mother back to his father's suite.

Seeing Robert asleep seemed to jar Anna out of her memories. She kissed Andrew on the cheek. "Good night, Andrew. We'll talk more in the morning."

"Goodnight, Mother," Andrew said before returning to his suite. ~*~

Anna removed her dressing gown and slid into bed beside Robert. She cradled his head in her chest as a mother would cradle a child. In his sleep, Robert wrapped his arms around her and burrowed closer.

"You rest, love, you've earned it. It's my turn now." She rubbed her cheek against his hair. "Our family will be stronger than ever. I promise you."

She caressed his shoulders and arms. "And just you try to push me away again, Robert, just you try."


	23. Anna Forgets

June 1992 Venezuela inside the Mochima Maritime National Park

Across the island waterway, two pairs of night vision binoculars surveyed the _Nereo_ as it sat in dock at one of the larger islands in the park. The dock was a good choice as it was tucked into a natural inlet. Anyone cruising down the main branch of the river would not be able to see whether there was or was not a ship in dock. Likely they would assume not and move on.

Two guards patrolled on deck. Three more could be seen on the dock and by the mooring lines. It was now or never.

The two frogmen donned their face masks, blew the air out of their mouthpieces then submerged. Within minutes they had reached the rear of the Nereo. As planned, they scaled the side and in unison knocked out the two guards on sentry duty. Silently, they stripped off their wet suits and gear. Weapons at the ready, they made their way below. Sooner rather than later the unconscious guards would be discovered. They had to get to the state rooms below decks before that happened.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and heard voices. They followed the voices to the main salon. Robert paused at the doorway listening.

"I don't care! Do you hear me! I don't care! I'll turn myself in,” said Anna.

"No, Anna, I swear to you it is a mistake. That ... that file was never meant to be used against you."

"It's too late now. The order is active on me and ... and Robert." Anna choked back a sob. "What have I done?"

"I cannot ... will not let you go, Anna. We are so close to our dreams."

"YOUR dreams, not mine. Never mine,” Anna said in utter despair. "They won't stop tracking me. Once a traitor, always a traitor."

Faison's voice had an edge of hysteria. "I can fix this! I know I can. I just need time."

Anna dismissed Faison's pleas from her mind. There was no escape for her. "We have to separate. You have to take the baby to safety."

"I will NOT abandon you," Faison declared ardently.

Anna voice was low and pleading. "My life is forfeit, Cesar. If you won't help me, then ... then let me get word to Sean or Mac about the baby. At least let me do that much. I'm ... I'm BEGGING you."

Robert stepped into the room. His gun trained on Faison but his eyes on Anna. "That won't be necessary, luv."

"Robert?!" Anna's smile lit up the room. She scrambled off the chaise lounge and stiffly made her way towards him.

Robert was shocked at her appearance. Surely it wasn't right for a woman to have lost so much weight and a pregnant one at that. Her face was wan. Her movements were jerky and awkward without the graceful elegance that made her that much more captivating in his eyes.

Robert met her halfway. Anna's arms wound themselves about his waist. Eyes closed, she rested her head on his chest.

"In the flesh,” Robert replied. One hand touched her hair then traveled to the small of her back. She felt so small and fragile as if the next light breeze would blow her away.

Locking the hatch door behind him, Andre entered the room with a cheery greeting, "Hello there, sister of mine."

"Grant?!" Anna exclaimed extending a hand. "The letters did work! It's really you!"

"You did send for me didn't you? It's Andre now." Andre brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

"I'd given up," Anna admitted looking at Robert. "I should have had more faith."

"Let me check the little patient and then you." Andre scanned the room and spotted the transport incubator. He made straight for it.

Faison watched the reunion with thinly veiled anger and jealousy. Venom and disdain was evident in his every word. "I cannot believe your gall, Scorpio. Coming here like this. Do you think you can rescue Anna as you are?"

"I can't believe your stupidity!" Robert shot back. "Taking Anna and the baby out of hospital so soon after delivery. You could have killed them both!"

"I had no choice. We had to get away."

"Yeah, there's another bit of stupidity." Robert had been running on sheer force of will and adrenaline for weeks. He could feel himself coming down to earth but he had to hold on for all their sakes. "Andre, how's the baby?"

Andre gently examined the baby as well as checked the incubator itself. "Underdeveloped and undersized as expected. But good color and muscular response. Best of all he's breathing on his own. He's going to be all right. But we need to get him to a hospital stat. These portable units are just not made for long term use."

Faison scowled. "What? You think I would not take care of our child? I am not a monster whatever you may think of me."

Robert barely restrained himself from lunging at Faison and choking the life out of him. "Your child?! I'll see you dead for all you've done to my wife, to my family."

Faison ignored Robert and addressed Andre. "What kind of facility would he need?"

"Neonatal care. The biggest risk now is infection. He'll need full oxygen until his lungs are fully grown." Andre closed the incubator door and peeled off his latex gloves. He looked around the incubator checking readings and feed lines. He spied the oxygen tank crudely but efficiently spliced into the vent line of the incubator. "This tank is about done. Do you have another?"

"There are two tanks in storage. The cabinet behind you is fully stocked with medicines and supplies,” Faison said.

Anna led Robert by the hand to the incubator. By her actions and movements, he suspected she was drugged. He glared at Faison. "What have you done to her?"

"Not him. The doctor gave me some morphine for the pain. I'll be all right." Her words were distinct but slightly slurred. "Come meet our son."

All the rage seeped out of Robert's body at the sight of the pink wizened body in the incubator. On his head was a small cap. Gauze covered his eyes completely.A mere scrap of a diaper covered him below. Tears stung his eyes as he saw all the tubes and wires that were helping their son survive. He was so tiny barely the length of his forearm.

"I ... I haven't named him yet. I thought Malcolm for a middle name. We didn't get to discussing names did we?"

With a voice hoarse with emotion Robert said, "I couldn't have found you without Andre. How about Andrew Malcolm Devane Scorpio?"

"Perfect but what a mouthful,” Anna said.

"He'll grow into it,” said Robert wrapping his arms around her from behind. He whispered. "We'll make sure of that."

"You have a plan then?" Anna whispered back.

"Half plan, half improvisation," Robert said planting soft kisses on Anna's ear, her neck, her cheek. "Not for us, luv, for Andrew."

"Yes, I agree.” Her voice was firm but she shivered knowing the assumptions that Robert had in mind. She could feel his arms trembling around her. "Will you be Andrew's godfather, Andre?"

Andre grinned, "Absolutely. The honor is mine."

Fuming in the corner, Faison added snidely, "Perhaps, you have a small army out there to support you?”

"I got here and caught you flat-footed, didn't I? Unless you've got something better, I suggest you listen,” Robert snapped at Faison.

Andre straightened up. "Anna, I'm done with Andrew. It's time I took a look at you. Can you bring her to the chaise, Robert?"

Robert escorted Anna to the chaise lounge then sat down beside her. To his eyes, Anna seemed to grow weaker by the minute. He moved so he cradled her in his arms and she was more comfortable.

"How are you removing Anna and the baby off this boat? My men are all around,” Faison challenged Robert.

"I have no intention of doing that. This boat is Andrew's lifeline and best hope for escape,” Robert shot back.

"And Anna?"

"Anna and I will be leaving. The hunters will come after us which will leave you open to get away."

"That is not a plan. That is suicide."

"Not necessarily. It will depend where we part company."

"No!" Faison objected.

"You are in no position to object to anything!"

"It is my boat, remember? What I say goes,” said Faison. "The next port is less than a day away. We can make it there undetected."

"So you keep running and running as your options dwindle and my son's life ebbs away. That's suicide only slower,” Robert said.

"Now that Andrew is here, our options for transport improve,” Faison said. "I can make for land and an airport. We can be beyond their reach in days."

"You have less than twenty-four hours. The hunters are behind us and there's a lot of them with heavy firepower,” Robert revealed. "You don't stand a chance by yourself. Together we do."

"How many has the WSB sent here? Five, ten?"

"For whatever reason, this debacle has bad guys coming out of the woodwork. There's the WSB after me and Anna. The DVX is after you and Anna. And three other organizations that want Anna and Andrew alive and me dead or alive."

"What?!" exclaimed Anna and Faison both.

"It's true. We delayed them in Caracas but that's all. They're regrouping and they'll come after us hard,” said Andre. He prepared two syringes - one for a sedative and another for a vitamin booster. Andre injected Anna with both.

"One outfit calls itself the Foundation and another CHI1 whatever that is. The other is one of those spies for hire groups started by ex-WSB and ex-DVX operatives. They seem to be popping up everywhere these days,” Robert said. "Does any of this sound familiar?"

"No," Faison answered. He poured himself a drink and water for Anna. "Would you care for a drink, gentlemen, now that we seem to be on the same side?"

Andre and Robert both accepted water.

"But ... but why Andrew?" Anna's eyes drifted towards her child.

"We have suspicions but that's all, Anna. Right now the priority is getting Andrew in the clear."

"That is the ONLY priority," said Anna.

"I want to make a deal with you, Faison," Robert's words caught Faison by surprise.

"You did not honor our last deal. Why should I expect different now?" asked Faison.

"Because now I can kill you and only a deal is preventing that happy event,” glowered Robert. "In exchange for your miserable hide, I want you to help Andre get the boy out and safe. If you do not agree, then say goodbye right now."

Faison glanced at Andre then Robert. He measured their abilities and motivations. He had no doubts that either man would make good on the threat. Robert was only looking for an excuse not to kill him. The other man was familiar but Faison could not place him. He had the air of a killer, a deadly quiet one. "All right. It is a deal on one condition."

"What condition?" "Anna comes with me."

"No," Anna said the word with such conviction that it seemed like a thunderclap on a clear day. "This has to end. If Andrew isn't safe, neither is Robin. I have to assume that, don't I?"

Robert nodded.

"Then we play to the odds." Anna was thoughtful for a moment. "Cesar, I want you to hypnotize me to forget Andrew, everything about him from the beginning to now." She eyed Andre. "And I can't know anything about you either."

"Anna, no, there are-" Robert began.

"I can't take the chance, Robert. If I'm captured, they won't learn anything." Anna held his hand. "You know I'm right. I need to forget this very conversation."

"He is not getting near your mind again," said Robert vehemently.

"In my condition, how long would I last under interrogation? Truth drugs? If they want our son as badly as it sounds, then this is the best option to keep our family safe. Please understand."

Robert was silent for a long while. Anna lay her head on his shoulder as he thought. Their hands clasped and unclasped on their own accord. Finally, Robert kissed her head. "For the best."

"I have not said that I would do this or that I can,” said Faison. "I know you can do it,” answered Anna.

"But will I?" asked Faison silkily.

"Some time ago you asked me questions that I said I didn't know the answer to. I lied. I'll give you the truth in exchange for you wiping my memories." Robert tensed at these terms but said nothing. Anna squeezed his hand to comfort him. "Is it a deal, Cesar?"

"It is a deal." Faison took a long drink and asked his first question. "If you had never met Scorpio, would you have stayed with me, just me, not the DVX?"

"Yes, I would have stayed with you."

Faison's voice quavered. "Could you have loved me then? Fallen in love with me?"

"I cared for you and I was attracted to you. In time, I would have fallen in love with you."

"But you met Scorpio first," Faison said bitterly. Anna smiled shyly at Robert. "Yes, I met Robert."

Faison looked away unable to bear the raw palpable intimacy before him. For in that moment, Anna and Robert were years in the past surrounded by other couples promising their love to each other forming bonds that would last a lifetime.

"Win some. Lose some." Faison blinked back tears. He said hoarsely, "I have no ... no more questions."

"When do we start? How long will it take?" asked Anna.

Andre interrupted. "Not before you get at least four hours of sleep, Anna. That sedative I gave you should be kicking in soon."

"Four hours will be enough time for me to prepare,” Faison said.

"You've done this before?" Robert asked cautiously. The thought of the upcoming procedure was making him ill.

"Only once, a very long time ago. It can be done but with great care."

Anna approached Cesar. She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Cesar."

"I could never refuse you anything," Faison said. "I will ensure Andrew's safety. I give you my word and promise."


	24. Edging Closer

Beauchel Institute

In his suite, Robert, sweater in hand, paused by the full length mirror behind Anna. "You're doing it again."

"What?" Anna applied lipstick.

His eyes met hers in the mirror's reflection. "Looking at me as if I was the maraschino cherry on top of Whip Cream Mountain."

Anna laughed heartily. "You get all that from one look?"

"You've kept the looks coming all morning. It's a collective effect." Robert wriggled into the black and white cashmere sweater.

"Ought I to cease and desist then?" Anna turned automatically to help Robert pull the sweater down over his back.

"Perish the thought!" came Robert's muffled voice from the depths of the sweater. "Then I don't see the problem."

Robert's head popped out of the collar. "I hate the fact that I can't make you as hot, bothered and bewildered as you're making me right now."

"You didn't have a problem last night or the other night."

"As I can't rely on the old standby just yet, inspiration is the next best thing. Creativity is your strong suit not mine."

Anna turned left and right scrutinizing her outfit. "I just want to be with you, Robert. Acrobats need not apply."

It was Robert's turn to laugh. "Keep the looks coming, Devane, and who knows to what moves I may aspire to."

"I have the highest opinion of your capabilities, professionally and personally speaking, Mr. Scorpio."

Robert turned her to fully face him. "I'm getting better everyday, stronger. Soon I'll be able to leap tall buildings with a single bound and sweep you off your feet properly."

"You don't need magic powers for that. You never did." Anna and Robert kissed leisurely with a fair share of teasing and serious intent between them until a knock on the door made them pause.

"Everyone decent?" came Andrew's voice from behind the door.

"I'm quickly remembering what it was like to have a child in the house,” observed Anna.

"Ditto." Robert disengaged himself from Anna. "Come in, son!" Just as Andrew came in, Anna's mobile began to ring.

Anna looked at the mobile display and mouthed 'Mac'. Robert motioned to put the call on speakerphone. "Hello, favorite brother-in-law, Robert's here with me. I'm putting you on speakerphone."

The mobile was placed on the center table. Anna sat down on the couch and swung her legs up to rest on Robert's lap.

"Hey, bro, hope you're behaving yourself," came Mac's voice. Andrew, in the armchair, listened intently to his new uncle-to-be.

"I'm complying with everything my nurse desires. Just ask Anna," Robert answered while patting Anna on her knee. "It's a bit late over there for a call."

"Robin told me she'd called you and found out Anna was there too. There are some things I need to run by you both."

"Fire away," said Robert.

"When did Robin call?" Anna asked Robert.

Mac asked, "Do you know what's in the package in my office? Who sent it?" "Not a clue. Nada. Zip. What's the postmark?"

"That's the thing. The package is the size of a breadbox, well packed but battered. Looks like the wrapping stayed the same but the sender changes the addressee label. There are postmark stamps from all around the globe." Over the line came the sound of rustling paper. "Sao Paolo, Capetown, Tokyo, Mauritius, Bombay, Paris, Moscow, Vancouver, Buenos Aires."

Andrew grew more alert after hearing the list of cities.

Anna puzzled said, "What package are we talking about? When did Robin call?"

Robert cleared his throat. "Well, dear, the package addressed to me was delivered to Robin's two days ago. She called that night and told me she had given it to Mac for safekeeping for me."

As if reading Anna's mind, Mac added, "It's been checked by bomb dogs and passed a chemical test."

"For now, and only for now, shall I ignore the fact that I was kept out of the loop on this by everyone, including by my daughter. How about x-raying the contents?" suggested Anna.

"I don't think that will work. This is heavy and it’s metal." Mac tapped the package and they could all hear the metallic clang. "Lead lined probably."

"Anna will be there for Robin's wedding and Christmas, she can open it then." "Scratch Christmas. I'll be here to put coal in Robert's stocking," said Anna.

"I think this needs to be opened now,” Mac insisted. "Two petty crooks got themselves arrested just so they could try to get into my office for this thing. And one of my officers informed me today that someone tried to bribe her to get it. I don't want anyone to get hurt, Robbie. I need to know what it is I'm holding."

Andrew whispered in Robert's ear. Robert said, "Ah, Mac, it's personal. I just remembered what it could be."

"What is it?" "It's a ... a gift."

"A personal gift that other people want to get their hands on pretty badly. Something smells, bro, and it's not me."

"Look, it's a bit of ... of ancient history that just keeps rearing its sly ugly head at the most inconvenient times imaginable." Robert shrugged his shoulders at Andrew's look of annoyance. Andrew mouthed back 'WSB'. "Best thing to do is to contact the Bureau and have them pick it up. They'll keep it safe until we can open it."

Next to Robert, Anna mouthed 'What the hell is going on?' to both males. She removed her legs from Robert's lap and curled them underneath her. Her posture was rigid. Her eyes flashed and her lips were set in a thin line. Anna was primed to lose her temper very soon and Robert knew it.

Mac chuckled but not in a good way. "Speaking of the WSB, I was visited yesterday by not one, not two but six agents. They were checking in with me as a courtesy so they say. The only time Port Charles played host to this many agents was during the Cartel caper. They're not setting up a local office so why are they here? What's going down, Robbie?"

"You said a team of six. Who's the lead agent? Names?"

Mac sifted through the papers on his desk. "Agent Amanti, Dianara Amanti. The other agents are Polk, Alvarez, Temazarek, Lowell, and Ungaro. Ring any bells?"

Andrew covered his eyes and groaned. At this, Anna fingers began to tap impatiently on the couch. She studied the byplay between father and son intently.

"What was that?" Mac asked.

"More history, Mac. This one is more current and definitely ongoing."

"So, I give the package to them?" At this Andrew mouthed 'N-Y-C' to his father.

"No, that group is strictly a protection and isolation squad. Call the NYC office for a pickup if you want it off the premises."

"Protection and isolation? I'm not aware of any VIPs coming to town. I find it hard to believe they're setting up a house here for you or Anna."

"It's routine, nothing special, Mac. Let them do their thing and they may even be able to help you out. Those teams have a lot of useful skills."

"As Agent Amanti explained to me in exhausting, tedious detail. She asked if her group could be deputized for the duration of their stay."

"Can't say no to manpower, Commish."

"Since when does the WSB ask to be deputized? How long would they be staying in town?"

Another mysterious look passed between father and son. "I think it's looking to be long term. Port Charles is a growing city with a harbor perfect for international shipping. The Bureau may be thinking of setting up a satellite office."

“Be secretive all you like." Mac's dissatisfaction with the answer came through loud and clear on the other end. "On to family business. Anna, I've got the guest bedroom ready for you at the house. Robin's decided she wants to host Christmas dinner this year at their place. Per Maxie, she has to know if you are definitely going to make it for the wedding."

"Maxie?" asked Anna.

"Yes. She's coordinating the wedding again and determined this time that nothing, not even a natural disaster or similar act of God, is going to ruin it. She's confirming guests and accommodations. Will you be bringing a guest?"

"Please inform my goddaughter that the mother of the bride will be going stag,” Anna announced.

"Robbie? Couldn't you be released for one day?" asked Mac.

Anna glanced at Robert. "Robert's treatment takes precedence over the wedding. Robin and I talked about it. He's staying put."

"I'll be there in spirit," said Robert. "Takes lots of pictures will you."

"All right but it's not going to feel right to me," said Mac. "Anna, I've got the guest room at the house ready for you. Is that okay or would you prefer a room at the Metro Court?"

"The house would be perfect."

Mac's voice softened. "I need a favor. Can you have a woman to woman talk with Maxie when you're here?"

"Boy problems?"

"That and a general life problem. She has no direction, no focus. I thought getting the job at Crimson magazine would settle her down a little but she's more all over the place than before. She'll listen to you."

"Mac, I won't dictate to her. If I do that, she'll go running off in the opposite direction. But I'll listen and advise. See where her head and heart are," said Anna. “Maybe a little talk can nudge her towards the right course."

"Fair enough. That's it for me. I need to get home and into bed. You hang in there, Robbie."

"Back at you. Bye, Mac." Robert's stomach grumbled noisily. "Food. I need sustenance."

With quick agitated gestures, Anna shut off the mobile and pocketed it. She glared at the two most important men in her life. "It seems to me that there are a lot of deals on the table. Between the two of you. Between Faison and you, Robert. Between the WSB and Robert. And I suspect one between you, Andrew, and the Bureau. Some I know and there remain a lot more I don't. How am I doing so far?"

"Good." Robert said. "Let's go down to breakfast. Bad to talk on an empty stomach."

* * *

Port Charles Police Department

Mac's fingers dialed a number from memory. Sean answered on the first ring. "Sean, have you heard from Anna or Robert lately?"

Sean cleared his throat. "About what? Robert's still at the institute right?"

'Yeah, he is. Anna's there, too. Listen, is there something going on with the WSB?"

"I know nothing on the WSB side. Why?"

"A group of agents are making camp here. You know how I feel about them."

"Same here, Mac," said Sean. "There may be an operation in the works."

"That's what worries me. The head agent is too smooth. She has the answers before I can even think of the question.“

"Relax. Don't overanalyze. You'll find out when you find out."

"Why are all spies so cryptic?"

"Job hazard. The training stays with you for a lifetime," replied Sean. "Once a spy, always a spy."

Mac hung up then muttered to himself, “This situation is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin.”


	25. The Babbage Protocol

Beauchel Institute

Bright sunlight invaded the sitting room of Robert's suite. Three people sat in a triangle. Robert reclined on the couch. Anna turned a spindle-backed chair backwards and sat down on it laying her arms across its back. Andrew sat pensive and watchful in the armchair. On a side table sat a pitcher of lemonade and three glasses. Robert poured each of them a glass.

"As Anna says there are many deals on the table. It's time we started sorting through them as a family and as a team,” Robert said holding his glass out towards the others. "Let's start with a WSB tradition. A toast to a new mission and timely confessions."

"Family," said Anna raising her glass.

"Old and new."

"New beginnings and understanding," Andrew added.

They clinked glasses and drank.

Robert began. "My deal with Faison was simple. In exchange for his life, he was to aid Andre in getting Andrew to safety. He broke that agreement when he abandoned Andre to die in Panama." Robert looked sharply at his son. "And absconded with you to God only knows where."

He turned to Anna. "My deal with the WSB was not so simple. In exchange for serving at the Bureau's beck and call, several things were required. Yours and Sean's records were completely purged. It was imperative that you were not examined too closely and that you were taken somewhere safe to recover. At the time of the incident, the doctor believed that your amnesia was temporary. I didn't bother to tell him that I suspected the memory loss was related to Faison's work."

"Why didn't you tell them?" asked Anna.

"I wasn't sure who to trust. I thought that within a few months or less that you would be back on your feet, memory restored and back home with Robin. I never thought it would last ..." Robert's voice died away.

Anna nodded in understanding. "Go on."

"To this day I don't know how you got to Canada. From Caracas, you were flown to a sanitarium in Maine. That bit was confirmed. Maine to Canadais anyone’s guess.”

"That part is still fuzzy. No help there," admitted Anna. "Does Sean know about this?"

"No. It's in the past now. Let's keep it there." Robert said. "Lastly, the Bureau was to monitor you, Robin and Mac on my behalf. I had surveillance on you stopped after you married again and started a new life. As for my part of the bargain, well, the best said about it is that it's over."

Anna glanced quickly at Andrew who shrugged and mouthed the words, "See?"

"I resigned in 2003 and joined the World Health Organization in 2006. In the interim of those years, I found Andrew and we settled in Australia for a few years."

"That's my cue I believe," Andrew said. My deal with Father covers you, Mother, and Papa. Father agreed not to kill Papa while I lived. And, secondly, that it would be my decision if or when to contact you and the rest of my real family. I agreed to never lie to him and to give him a chance to be a real father."

Anna nodded. "What's your connection to the WSB? When did they start hiring teenagers?"

"In a sense I've been connected to them since I was eleven." Father and son laughed at some shared memory. "Papa disappeared for long stretches of time but he always came back. Except in late 2003, he was gone for more than six months with no contact whatsoever and our house was, well, raided. I ran."

Anna looked stricken. "You were a child."

Robert shook his head. "No child ever had his resources or his gall."

"I prefer to call it style and panache," Andrew replied. "I reached a safe house."

Robert provided an unspoken commentary by snorting.

"A safe house of sorts," Andrew shot an unamused look at his father who began to laugh. "All right, a ... a house of ill r-r-repute. We had stayed there before on visits. I had no idea what when on."

"Yes, your father is familiar with those. Wilma's for example," Anna teased Robert.

"Really?! The paragon of virtue actually step-"

"It was in the line of official police work I'll have you know," said Robert defensively. "Go on."

"Before I ran, I had accessed—“

"Illegally hacked," put in Robert.

“-- the WSB and DVX main computers looking for information on Papa's whereabouts. I made some amateur mistakes and my activities were detected. The DVX raided the house and I ran. Father was assigned to track and secure the intruder. He found me at the ... the house. I requested Father's help in finding Papa."

"Call a spade a spade. It was blackmail,” said Robert.

"He blackmailed you?" asked Anna.

"Not me, the Bureau. It was brilliant and extremely risky. If it had gone wrong—“

"A calculated risk. The odds were in my favor,” said Andrew.

Anna’s eyes shone with amusement and curiosity. "What did you do, Andrew?"

"I set up a ... a program that acts as a custodian or guardian to the WSB system. It has the ability to block access and completely shut down the system."

"That's only possible internally. Besides, you would need to know the codes, the algorithms to get to that level of the system. I've tried to get in myself."

Andrew grinned. "Let me guess. Your online alias is ShadowdFox."

She narrowed her eyes. "Yes. How do you know that?"

"You're one of a handful that ever got that deep into the ... um, catacombs of the system. My compliments."

"I repeat. How do you know?"

"My guardian is still in place, Mother. I devised all the encryption codes and algorithms in use by the WSB. Cryptography is a hobby of mine."

"That means you have complete control over the WSB's systems."

"And the DVX systems, too."

"To put that much control and power in one person let alone a child is ludicrous,” said Anna. "No one would stand for it."

Robert drawled. "Yes, that's what we thought too. Until Andrew was kidnapped by the DVX and WSB systems shutdown within three days. The Bureau called in experts from everywhere and no one could get past the Guardian program to reactivate the systems. Four days later, the DVX systems shut down as well. Andrew’s strategy proved itself in every way.”

"My strategy was detente and it worked,” explained Andrew. "Without me, no one has access. So, I made a deal with the WSB and the DVX. They left me alone and I would do two things: ensure that they were able to access their systems and affiliate myself with neither party."

"Andrew, data is data. They can simply take the data and applications and install it in a system over which you have no control,” said Anna.

Andrew shook his head. "Not if the data set is encrypted. Not if the applications are locked to function within strict parameters. Certainly both the WSB and the DVX have tried to do as you suggested but what they got was garbage and non- functioning applications. Data that means nothing is useless. Programs that don't work just take up space."

"That's diabolical,” remarked Anna with dawning comprehension.

"It was an effective stratagem that neutralized two very real threats to me. Plus, there were no losses on any side other than a little damaged pride." Andrew's eyes were glacial. "I see nothing wrong in what I've done and I offer no apologies to anyone."

"Andrew, it's an unstable situation. It has to be. There must be reprisals and attempts to get to you,” said Anna. Little warning bells were going off in her head. The things Andrew said echoed too eerily of Cesar Faison’s attitudes and teachings for her liking. She couldn't help wondering how much influence Faison wielded over her son.

"Both tried to break or change the deal especially in the early days. I learned and improved, too. The WSB and the DVX soon got tired of the random and unpredictable shut downs of their systems. Leave me alone, the systems ran normally. Harass me and I return the favor."

"You've turned them into Pavlov's dogs!" said Anna in amazement. "Be good and you shall be rewarded. Misbehave and you shall be punished."

"I suppose that is one way of thinking about it,” Andrew said. "Mother, my first priority is survival. Second, I refuse to live my life in fear. No matter how Papa tried he could not escape his past. Of all people, I thought you would understand."

"I do, Andrew, I do," said Anna. "It's ... simply unbelievable. All of it."

"Go to Paris, Anna, and believe," Robert's eyes danced with mischief. "We're so used to being the playing pieces on the chessboard. I have to say that I enjoy the players' viewpoint much better."

"I assume you're watched in Paris," deduced Anna.

Andrew nodded. "The DVX and the WSB maintain surveillance on me. More bodyguards than anything else. Mother, I want to be clear about something. I get nothing from either organization except my freedom. I receive no monetary compensation whatsoever. And, I don't do either of them any favors without informing the other party. You mentioned Pavlov but I think it's more a symbiotic arrangement myself."

"Blackmail by any other name is still blackmail," Robert commented.

"Of course, you would see that way. But times change and we have to change or become obsolete."

"Some things never change. You'll find that out as you get older."

"How do you control the systems?" Anna asked. "How can you manage the shutdowns?"

"Only I know that,” Andrew responded.

"The WSB has continued to study that problem, Anna. The Bureau hires more eggheads now than ever,” said Robert. "But so far the Guardian has been doing its job. One day they may crack it open."

"Maybe and maybe not,” Andrew said with a smile. "It is a continual challenge to stay several steps ahead of them."

Anna's mind began to see all the angles. "Who else knows about this arrangement?"

Robert provided the answer. "Inside the Bureau, it's referred to as the Babbage Protocol and discussed only in the highest of levels. The Guardian operates invisibly to the technical administrators and programmers."

"Out of sight, out of mind. I prefer it that way,” Andrew added.

"This has been kept secret for what five years now?" Anna addressed Robert. "Any organization leaks, Robert. No other entities out there know about the Guardian or Andrew's part in it? I find that hard to believe. The surveillance teams must know what they guard."

"What information there is out there about this is ... is rumor, hearsay. The Bureau retains Andrew's cover by providing tight security around key technical resources. Thus making it appear that it's all in-house knowledge. As for the watch teams, the operatives are handpicked by the high committee. They do know what they guard and they don't change personnel very often."

"I know each of them by sight and voice and vice versa." Andrew added.

"Where is your surveillance now?" Anna asked.

"In Paris guarding my doppelgänger, Giles. Some in Port Charles undoubtedly preparing for my arrival,” said Andrew. "I updated the WSB and the DVX of my future plan to use Port Charles as a second residence. Father, should you warn Uncle Mac to expect a visit from Dieter's DVX men when they arrive in Port Charles?"

"Dieter? As in Hans Dieter Reinhardt, the DVX's top assassin?" asked an appalled Anna.

Robert laughed ruefully. "I almost wish I could be there to see that meeting. Dieter's retired, Anna, but he's still as intimidating as ever. He manages Andrew's DVX watch teams. He's a nice guy once you get to know him. He makes bird houses and gives them away."

Anna was speechless with alarm and concern.

"Mother, I'm perfectly safe. I can take care of myself,” assured Andrew misinterpreting Anna's concern.

Anna looked at Robert then Andrew before saying. "Robert, there was a time that the DVX was your sworn enemy. You're both talking about their operatives like ... like friends and neighbors. This is wrong on so many levels I must be having a nightmare.”

"In the case of Andrew both organizations are on the same side,” said Robert. "The lines have gotten blurry over the years. Sometimes I don't see a line anymore. As long as they continue to protect our son, then I don't have a problem with them."

"The DVX and the WSB have evolved because they've had to - cooperation instead of mutual destruction,” Andrew said. "The ones to worry about are the amateurs that are quickly becoming very professional."

"And they are?" Anna asked.

"The organizations backed by too much money, too much self interest and too much hunger for power," Robert said. "Like the ones who chased us in Venezuela and, we believe, continue to operate today."


	26. In Pursuit

Beauchel Institute

Andrew attached a pocketbook-sized projector to his iPhone and displayed a visual image against the wall. Anna watched with interest. They expected Robert to return any minute from his morning treatment.

"Are those projectors commercially available?" Anna asked eyeing the miniature projector with covetous eyes.

"Yes, Mother. From Korea. I've made a few modifications though — sharper lens, better battery life, rubberized exterior, a built in stand." Andrew said.

"Are the modifications difficult?"

"Mother, if you want one, you only need ask." Andrew smirked.

"I want one, please,” Anna smiled back. "Um, tell me what other gadgets do you have?"

"Now, Mother, don't you get the latest and greatest from your agency?"

"Your mother likes to have a lot of kit on missions,” said Robert entering the room. "On our first mission, under all her flouncy pieces, she had enough gear for five agents."

"It's called being prepared. Where's your grappling hook, Robert?" Anna shot back.

"Retired just like me," Robert checked out Andrew's arrangement. "Andrew, you had better guard your supply closet."

Anna brightened. "Lots of interesting gadgets then — electronics, guns, explosives?"

"I don't work on original weaponry of any kind. I'm afraid you'll have to go shopping elsewhere for that sort."

Anna inspected the projector closely. "This is another hobby of yours, modding things? Does this connect via Bluetooth?"

"You know your jargon,” Andrew said approvingly. "Not a hobby. It's my job. I have an electronics shop in Paris both sales and repair. Don't I, Father?"

Robert confirmed while making himself comfortable on the couch. "It's very popular in the neighborhood."

"You repair things?" Anna was puzzled. "That seems a waste of your abilities and potential."

"It's good honest work. I use my own hands, my own knowledge. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"You believe I ought to be a professional something like Robin and have prestige, money, social position?"

"I didn't mean it that way,” said Anna defensively. "Don't twist my words around."

"How many families have a doctor and a ... an electronics technician? Good ones, too."

"As long as you're happy with what you do that's the important thing." Anna said. "But you can still go to school if you want something else later on. I'll certainly help with school expenses. Why limit yourself?"

Andrew looked at his father. "She IS quite persistent."

Robert replied, "I warned you. Once she gets an idea in her head, she's nigh unstoppable. Robin is exactly the same way."

"Don't believe a word your father says,” Anna sputtered. "I just don't want to see you wasting your potential. That's called being a mother, Robert."

"How long can I expect this treatment to continue?" asked Andrew.

"For the rest of your life, my boy,” Robert said.

"I ought to put her out of her misery then," Andrew drew his wallet out and extracted a business card. "Here you are, Mother, my card."

Anna read the card: "Andrew M. Scorpio, DigiMaze, Corporate Sales, Paris."

"Not a little shop," Anna studied the card. "DigiMaze is the most exclusive electronics dealer in the world. Can I get a relative of an employee discount?”

"You won't need a discount. Just raid my personal inventory.” Andrew laughed.

"What do you mean?" asked Anna.

"Two years ago, Father, Uncle Andre, Grandpere and I created Hyperion Holdings. Part of its portfolio of companies include DigiMaze and Trident Security Management."

"Trident has a small customer base but a reputation for the best quality, best training and most secure facilities," said Anna. “Their clients are a handful of places I have a hard time getting into. The computer systems are impossible to fool. Ah, that's your doing, I see."

"We do our best to please," Robert piped in.

Anna gazed shrewdly at the Scorpio men. "Clever. I approve. Much better than a private investigations office."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mother," said Andrew in all innocence. "These are fully legitimate businesses. You are implying something of the opposite."

"I'm sure they're completely legitimate. You wouldn't be that careless, but don't insult my intelligence. What else do they do? Jacques mentioned that his so- called business was undergoing a change and the Scarecrow Protocol was put on ice years ago. Connect the dots for me." Anna looked at Andrew expectantly who remained mute. She turned to the other Scorpio male within reach. "Robert?"

"Can't fool my Annie for long," said Robert. "These companies allow us to investigate persons and companies that are of interest while still staying under the general radar of said persons, companies or national intelligence agencies."

Andrew added. "None of us actively manage these companies on a day to day basis. Even Hyperion itself is managed by others. Proving a direct connection to us would not be impossible but merely difficult and frustrating."

"All of this sounds too elaborate for simply masking your true identities. The window dressing is too layered. Who are you really investigating?"

"Our highest priority has and continues to be the identification and investigation of the groups that hounded us in Venezuela and whom we strongly believe are still in operation,” Robert provided. "Are you ready, son?"

Andrew drew the drapes closed and shut the lights. On the far white wall, the projector displayed a large image of a logo with a trident motif. A progress bar was sliding towards completion flashing the word "Connecting ..." On the center table by the projector, Andrew's phone emitted a series of beeps and random words followed by a series of musical tones.

Andrew leaned into the phone and said, "Open Sesame.” He punched what looked like a pattern of keys on the keypad.

A disembodied male voice with a crisp British accent said, "Hello, Andrew."

"Hello, SIMON, how are things today?"

"Just jolly. And yourself?"

"I'm having a touch of the gout today. I should be better by the morrow."

Anna noticed that Andrew said each word very clearly. She deduced that it must have been some password or security routine. It used some obscure phrases and gout was certainly not something that could be associated with Andrew. Clever.

"I hope you feel better." Though the voice was human the cadence and enunciation were not. It was not a real human being on the line but a superb simulacrum or AI. A picture of a genial old man who bore a striking resemblance to Jacques Garnier appeared on the screen.

"SIMON, please dispense with a brief on the Caracas project. Record attendees as follows: Robert Scorpio, Anna Devane, Andrew Scorpio."

"Recorded. Beginning playback now."

The screen displayed an old-fashioned television test pattern that changed from 5 to 4 to 3 and so forth. Images began to be displayed on the wall with an audio narration by Andre Garnier.

A picture of Venezuela with many arrows converging in Caracas was displayed.

The narrator said. "In 1992, during a rescue and recovery mission to Caracas, we were made aware of three up and coming organizations with ambitions of rivaling the established intelligence agencies. To this end, they have accumulated resources, manpower and funding. This brief is a record of the history of this investigation including data, assumptions and conclusions. This is an ongoing brief and information may be added at any time."

The screen image changed to a circle with three segments labeled Control, Leverage and Awareness. "Any intelligence gathering organization follows the Principles of Influence which require strategies of control, leverage and awareness to accomplish its goals. These principles were first established by the WSB in the 1960s and further refined by the DVX in the 1970s as part of a parapsychology program."

The image became a jumble of words and phrases like hypnotherapy, aversion therapy, sensory deprivation. "The Control strategy was underscored by tactics centered around mind control. Mind control could be exerted via various methods from hypnosis to neuro-linguistic programming and neural implants. The attainment of control was used in parallel to the strategy of leverage." The image changed to methods of leverage. "Leverage could be applied to an individual, company, region or even a country to achieve the goals of the organization. Leverage could take the form of the traditional such as extortion or blackmail, the sophisticated as in corporate espionage or government corruption or the invisible such as social disruption of the masses by the few."

The image changed to pictures of various media such as television, radio or the Internet. "Awareness and monitoring are used interchangeably in the context of this brief. Monitoring, and sometimes outright manipulation, of media resources are necessary to gauge the progress of execution of the three primary strategies. During the last decade, technology has proved to be an able ally to these organizations due to technology's growing ubiquity, power and ease of implementation."

The image changed to the words CHI1. "The first organization we have identified became known to us through the acronym CHI1." The word stretched to become CHIONE. "Chione or Khione is a Greek nymph, the daughter of the god of the northwind and the goddess of mountain gales. Chione is known as a goddess of snow and ice, or ice princess. This association led the Trident Group to investigate the Cassadine family. We have confirmed that CHI1 is a Cassadine company. As we have determined, the target goal of CHI1 is the acquisition of the Scorpio child and the elimination of Robert Scorpio. Motive is our supposition only."

"We believe the motives include revenge and scientific interest. In 1985, Robert Scorpio, alongside Luke and Laura Spencer, was instrumental in the downfall of Mikkos Cassadine and his scheme of controlling global weather patterns from the Cassadine yacht The Ice Princess. Helena Cassadine, Mikkos' wife, vowed revenge upon all involved. Through a series of deaths of the main family bloodlines, the family has been physically decimated and genetically diminished.

They could strike at any time.

The Cassadine family has a history of ruthless domination and manipulation. We strongly believe that the intent included the kidnapping of the Scorpio child, the rearing of said child to be a Cassadine or the inclusion of its genetic makeup into the main Cassadine line through marriage or direct genetic manipulation. We have confirmed that the Cassadine family possess the scientific resources to achieve these goals."

Andrew and Robert watched Anna's reactions throughout the brief. Her expressions ranged from disbelief to horror to quiet rage. She seemed on the verge of an explosion. Robert urged her to stay calm.

The image changed to a logo of a family of three with the words 'The Heritage Foundation' encircling the logo. "The second organization we have identified became known to us initially via intercepted message traffic on various online bulletin and message boards. The messages are coded and signed with the words 'The Foundation.' Subsequent investigations have linked the entity to The Heritage Foundation, a legitimate entity admired and respected for its global philanthropy. As to motive, we traced its origins back to a rogue division of the DVX that was active in 1985 through 1987 under the guidance of an ex-DVX agent named Elena Parsons who was also known as Elena Cosgrove. This division initiated a terror plot centered on Mt. Rushmore in the United States. A central theme was the application of mind control techniques over an innocent subject, one Dusty Walker. Cosgrove escaped custody and willfully ran into street traffic and was killed in a collision. The WSB reported Cosgrove as dead. However, it has been determined that no body was ever found. The original grave was exhumed and the body found did not match dental records belonging to Cosgrove. The body was an entirely different racial genotype in fact."

The image changed to one of Mt. Rushmore and a building in Vienna. "While we have not been able to fully infiltrate the Heritage Foundation to date, our investigations have discovered and confirmed the following. Elena Cosgrove survived and founded the Foundation in 1989. Cosgrove is now known as Elena Preston Villiers. We believe that she is paralyzed in some form and resides exclusively within Foundation grounds. The Foundation's motive we believe is long range. Robert Scorpio and Anna Devane were instrumental in the thwarting of the Mt. Rushmore operation. It is believed that the abduction of their child was to serve several purposes. First, as leverage to gain the parents' full cooperation in future plans or as blackmail to not involve themselves in future plan. Second, as a potential Foundation operative whereby the child would be raised within the Foundation and over time and hypnotherapy be transformed into a loyal and capable operative."

The slide changed to a picture of a young Elena Parsons standing next to Cesar Faison. "We have verified that Elena Parsons was one of a series of proteges of Cesar Faison who devised and developed the Parapsychology Program for the DVX in the 1970s. The group was successful in testing the uses of sound and pattern to aid neuro-programming. The test was successfully implemented upon the aforementioned Dusty Walker. The likelihood of the Foundation's involvement and motives are verified."

"She's alive?! After all this time ... " Anna said.

"I'm worried about her. She plays the game very well and her dedication to her goals is unquestioned." Robert added. "We've failed to infiltrate the Foundation on two separate occasions. Her inner circle is very loyal."

"Who are they?" asked Anna.

Robert pressed the remote to pause the projector. "Roger Barret, remember him? He's changed his face a little but it's him."

"And who else?"

"That's all we've identified." "All?"

"Like I said they're a tight bunch," said Robert with a shrug. "But we know that there are more. Two people alone couldn't have accomplished everything they've got."

"They need a network, security, financing and friends in high places."

"The charity aspect of the Foundation is a cash cow. Not to mention excellent public relations," said Robert. "Elena learns from her mistakes and she's patient and thorough. We have to be. too."

"They've had all this time to build, get bigger and smarter," said Anna. "They have to have some other agenda than Andrew or revenge on us. Elena always thought big, right? What's the big picture?"

"I love having your brain and eyes on a case." Robert's expression turned gravely serious. "I can't discount the possibility that they've moved on to other targets and goals but my gut tells me we're on a collision course like it or not."

"Sean Donely's rule number one: Go with your gut," said Anna. "Got it."

Robert continued the presentation. The slide changed to a series of pictures — a squad of men shooting at a target, a parade of protesters in a foreign country, the image of a D superimposed on the number 99. The number 99 was composed of white dots.

Andre's voice continued. "The third group is the one for which we have the least current information. What we do have is solid but out of date. While we were aware of their presence at the time of the Caracas operation, we did not fully comprehend the scope of their operation. Two things alerted us to this organization's scope and motives. First, the sheer number of locations from which we traced incoming and outgoing communications ranged from Manitoba. Canada to Haiti to Parador in South America to Borneo. Second, the logo itself. D99 means a double ninety-nine which is a term used in the game of dominoes. These two facts plus additional evidence we have accumulated to date have led us to conclude that this group represent the remnants of the organization once ran by Nicholas Van Buren alias Domino. Its motives include revenge and leverage. Having learned of the possibility of a Scorpio child and following the increased interest in the location of Robert and Anna Scorpio displayed by many groups, we believe D99 decided to be opportunistic. The Scorpios were key pieces in the failure of the Dragon Bone operation and the discovery of the Sanctuary terrorist cell in 1989. The Sanctuary group was noted for using mind control techniques to create and activate sleeper assassins as was tried with a captured American marine Colton Shore who was instructed to kill WSB operative Frisco Jones. Both of these operations were ran or were heavily influenced by Van Buren, his niece Arielle Shore Ashton and nephew Etienne Gastineau. What better motive than to use a child as ransom or leverage against the parents?"

The phrase 'Latest update and addendum' flashed across the screen.

The picture changed to one of Andre sitting on a stool. "I don't have time to edit the brief. I'm adding this addendum now. My trip to South Africa was fruitful. I've found evidence definitively linking Etienne Gastineau to the DVX Parapsychology Program. He was a test subject in the program as a young child barely seven years of age. The experience affected him profoundly. He studied mind control extensively. I believe that he has resurrected the Parapsychology Program and extended its use among global terrorist groups using the leftover structure created by Domino. Now Van Buren was more blatant in his day controlling country elections, training mercenaries who were charged in a quick takeover of small countries and other operations. Etienne is more subtle. I believe he's spread a network of sleepers and spies in key locations and organizations. And he's using that network for information and disinformation. I think he knows about Guardian and anxious to get his hands on it. You'll have to sift through the data for yourself. It's waiting for you."

SIMON's visage appeared. "This brief has ended. Will there be anything else?"

Robert rose and put on the lights. Anna sagged into her chair in shock. "Satisfactory, SIMON, thank you. That will be all,” said Andrew.

"Until next time then." The image grew dark. The phone emitted another series of tones. Andrew pressed yet another pattern of keys."My God! You've been sitting on all of this for sixteen years!" Anna finally exploded. "I would have gone mad."

"No proof only suspicions and gut feelings. They've learned to stay low and bide their time,” said Robert. "It was a blessing in disguise that Faison hid Andrew so well. That gave us time."

"Faison's imprint is all over this. He HAS to be involved," said Anna.

"No, he isn't. In the formation of the original program, yes, but not now." Andrew said the words with conviction and certainty.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I am. You'll have to trust me on that." Andrew explained further. "Mother, you said before that we've been sitting on the information. That's true. I don't have Father's instincts but I have data and trends. Father and I agree that the clock is ticking to another confrontation."

"Why?" asked Anna.

"My analysis tells me that the threat decreased over time at least for me. And, the two of you were off the radar and safe. But we now have the same conditions as occurred in 1992. The world knows the two of you are alive. There is another Scorpio baby in the picture. It's only a matter of time until-"

Anna was visibly alarmed. "Emma."

"Yes. That's one of the reasons I'm adamant about getting well. We have to protect our granddaughter,” Robert said. "They could strike at any time."

"I believe they have begun to test the waters. The phone calls to Robin without anyone on the line and the recent uptick in personnel and communication traffic within the three organizations support my theory,” explained Andrew. "They are preparing and so are we, Mother. If I had my way I would transport the entire family to Paris. It is the most secure ground for us but that is not possible."

Robert stood up and with hands on hips declared, ”Port Charles, here come the Scorpios."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now you know the good guys and the bad guys. Onward to Book 2. This next book ties into Robin and Patrick's wedding on GH. 
> 
> I've tried to stay true to history and keep characters in character. If you see errors or have questions, please comment.


End file.
